Brother from the Darkness
by FreeTheKyuubi
Summary: 4 years ago Naruto met another boy, who now is his brother. But what kind of life has his new brother led, and how will he effect the lives of Naruto and those around him. NaruIno,SasuHina,OCTen - Under revision but will still be updated...eventually.
1. Joy, Pain, and Unseen Darkness

**A/N**: Hello all, if you are clicking on this story for the first time then I bid you welcome. I hope that you find it enjoyable seeing as it is my first fic ever. Just so you all know. The 'M' rating really won't go into full effect until chapter 7, and the pairings in this story are going to be fairly slow paced in development. So don't go trying to kill me because the characters aren't confessing their undying love for each other after two chapters, kay. Another thing, Lemons most likely will not appear in this story. Reason being, I have no talent for them. You may get a few limes that could verge being a lemon. But no strait lemons unless I some how accidentally write one that doesn't suck. However, violence, swearing, and perversness will dominate the world once you hit chapter 7 and beyond. Now with that (rather lengthy) introduction, let the story begin.

**Disclaimer:** No I do not own Naruto, it would probably be a disaster if I did.

"**Chapter 1:** Joy, Pain, and Unseen Darkness

"Naruto, get your ass out of bed or I am going to come in there and make you!"

Naruto groggily opened his eyes at the sound of the shout. He knew full well that his older brother would follow through on his threat, but he just couldn't find the will power to put his body into motion. So, deciding he would take all the laziness he could get. He closed his eyes again and waited for the inevitable.

It came sooner than he had hoped. Suddenly the door slammed open and hard footsteps marched towards the bed.

"Damn it Naruto, get your ass up, NOW!" The 'Now' was emphasized with the bed being flipped over and Naruto landing unceremoniously on the hard floor.

"Itai, do you have to be so rough when getting someone up Nii-san?" Naruto whined as he got up off the floor. He only saw his brother's back for a second as he walked out the door.

"Sasuke's already waiting in the living room," his brother's irritated voice came back, "and if we don't hurry we won't be able to get to the academy without being spotted. So get your ass moving!"

Naruto just sighed and began digging through his dresser for his cloths. Sometimes, when the day started like this, he would miss the days were he was living alone with no one telling him what to do. That feeling would always be short lived however as soon as he also recalled the pain of being alone. Naruto knew that no matter how hard his brother was on him, he would never stop thanking Kami-sama that his brother had come into his life.

Quickly finishing getting dressed, Naruto headed into the living room. He saw Sasuke sitting on the couch with an impatient expression on his face. Apparently he heard Naruto come in, because he turned around to look at him.

"Jeez, dobe, why can't you ever be ready on time?" Sasuke said in an annoyed voice. "Jagaa and I have been ready for at least ten minutes now." Sasuke was wearing his usual blue high collard shirt and white shorts, his blue shinobi sandals were sitting in the door way.

"Shut up, teme!" Although Naruto and Sasuke had become friends years ago, they still made insulting each other there favorite past time. After their quick exchange Naruto looked around to see his brother coming from the kitchen with a cup of instant ramen.

"Here." Jagaa said as he handed Naruto the cup, "I don't want to hear you complaining because you didn't get breakfast again." Jagaa was also dressed as he always was. He wore a black hoodie and some black shinobi pants that were tucked into the top of his soft leather combat boots. His outfit covered almost every inch of his body except his face and some of his neck, but he also wore dark black sunglasses that completely hid his eyes from the world. The black hilt of his straight-bladed katana was showing over his right shoulder and his dark blonde hair was in his normal, almost military style hair cut.

Naruto began to slurp down the noodles as fast as he could without spilling anything on his clothes, knowing his brother would kick the crap out of him if he did. Naruto's outfit looked almost exactly like his brothers, except for being dark blue with his famous red swirl on the back of his hoodie, and he wore standard blue shinobi sandals instead of boots. Years ago Jagaa had actually burned his famous orange jumpsuit, and told him if he ever caught Naruto in something like that again, that he would beat him to within an inch of his life. Thus ending the days of the orange horror. He had also, at the _suggestion_ of his brother, traded his goggles for a dark blue bandana. he had also grown out his hair a bit longer and it didn't seem to defy gravity as much as it did before. (Think how it was after the time skip)

"So how are we going to get there today?" Sasuke asked as he stood up from the couch.

"I think we should go with route 3 today." Jagaa said as he looked at the map of Konoha hanging on the wall. "We haven't used it in a while so it is the least likely to be being watched."

Both Sasuke and Naruto nodded their approval as Naruto tossed his empty ramen cup in the trash. "Yosh, lets get going already." Naruto yelled while pumping his fist in the air. He then received a glare from Sasuke and punch to the head from Jagaa.

"You were the one who made us late in the first place, and what did I tell you about yelling for no reason?" Jagaa said as Naruto rubbed his head in pain.

"Gomen Nii-san." Naruto said wincing. His brother had been literally pounding modesty and silence into Naruto for years now. He had said that the reason other kids found it so easy to hate him was because he was so damn annoying most of the time. Though Naruto hated to admit it, the other kids had started to treat him with a lot more tolerance once he had started to settle down.

"As much as I love to see you smack Naruto around, I do think he is right about leaving." Sasuke said from the side.

"I guess your right. We have wasted too much time as it is." Jagaa responded, "Let's go."

X X X X X

About ten minutes later they were closing in on the academy. Just as they were about to round the last corner, Jagaa let out a curse, "Shit!" and suddenly threw his arm back stopping the two boys behind him. "I don't believe this, they're guarding the fucking entrance."

Naruto and Sasuke were almost too frightened to look, but their curiosity finally got the best of them. Cautiously they leaned over to the edge of the building and saw the living nightmare that all three boys shared. Fangirls!

They were everywhere. Not just in front of the entrance either. It looked as if they had spread themselves out to have someone watching every possible approach the three of them could take. It also appeared that they had joined forces. All three groups, one devoted to each boy, were intermingled with each other in order to keep the boys from going towards a group that was not interested in him, and gaining entrance that way. Needles to say the boys were terrified of going anywhere near that group of females.

Naruto some times wanted to kill his brother for being the cause of Naruto having his own fan girls. How could a simple change of clothes cause this many problems?

///Flashback///

"_Naruto get in here now or I am going to drag you in by your hair! Do you understand me?" Jagaa was standing on the inside of the class room door yelling at his otouto who was refusing to come through the door._

"_I don't want to, I feel weird in these __clothes__." Naruto's sullen reply came back._

"_Well you look a hell of a lot better than you did in that orange monstrosity. Now you have five seconds to be through that door or you are seriously going to regret it!" Jagaa's tone left absolutely no room for arguments._

_Reluctantly, Naruto slowly came into the room wearing the cloths that closely resembled his brothers._

_Jagaa did not miss the gasp of surprise that went through the room, and he sure as hell didn't miss the very approving looks Naruto was getting from practically all the females present. 'Mission accomplished' he thought with a slightly evil smirk. 'Prepare to know the pain of fan girls Uzumaki Naruto.'_

_As Naruto and Jagaa went to take their seats, a body of a boy who had just been shoved out of his seat landed in front of Naruto. He looked over to where the boy had been sitting to see, to his shock, a girl looking at him with seductive eyes and patting the seat next to her. "You can sit by me Naruto."_

_Suddenly a chorus of female voices began around him._

"_No sit by me Naruto!" and "No way Naruto wants to sit by me, don't you Naruto__"_

_As the girls began to close in around him, eyeing him hungrily and begging him to sit with them, he heard what sounded like almost maniacal laughter. Looking up he saw that it was coming from none other than his brother._

_It was at that moment Naruto realized his life was about to get a whole lot more complicated._

///Flashback End///

"Damn it!" Sasuke said with fear in his eyes, "They've gotten smarter, there's no way we can slip by without them seeing us! What are we going to do?"

"Well, there is one chance we might have to get in, but its going to be risky." Jagaa said in the tone of a man facing death. "We will have to try to rush past them, while using **bunshins** to distract them. It may be what we need to get by, but if they catch the real you, it's all over."

"_Nan_i, but I suck at **bunshin**! I'll be caught for sure!" Naruto was looking extremely worried now.

"Try using **henge** to turn into me or Jagaa." Sasuke said, "At least if you are caught by one of our fan girls, there is a chance they will let you go out of disappointment, and you can make an escape before one of your catches you."

With that last bit of planning, the three looked at each other with determined expressions. Jagaa extended his hand first, followed by the other two who put theirs on top of his.

"It has been my greatest pleasure to know both of you." Jagaa said in a solemn voice. "May we survive to see each other again." Both the others nodded, and all three of them turned. They then charged into the mass of raging hormones in a glorious and inspiring display of courage that would have left all fan girl sufferers with profound respect and admiration for the trio.

X X X X X

The three boys walked into their class with the air of triumphant war heroes. It had been touch and go there for a while. There had been so many fan girls that the **bunshins** had turned out to be a useless decoy. All three had quickly been captured. But with quick thinking that involved the using the **kawarimi no jutsu** and replacing themselves with some of the other fan girls, the trio had managed to escape from certain doom.

Sasuke's relief was short lived though, as his two worst fan girls known as Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura arrived on the scene and immediately sprinted towards him. Jagaa and Naruto barely had time to jump out of the way as the two girls glomped the poor Uchiha.

"Back off Ino-pig, Sasuke wants to be with me not you!" The pink haired Sakura shouted.

"Fat chance forehead, you just can't accept the fact that Sasuke likes me and not you! Isn't that right Sasuke-kun?" The blonde finished knowing that she was making the other girl absolutely furious.

Truth be told, Ino only took every opportunity to hang on Sasuke for that reason alone, to irritate Sakura. Sure Ino still thought Sasuke was gorgeous, and definitely still wouldn't mind winning him. It was just that lately it did not seem as important to do so.

For quite a while now, her thoughts had been invaded by the image of another boy as well. That boy being the former loudest, most obnoxious person in Konoha, Uzumaki Naruto. Even in the midst of glomping Sasuke, she could still remember clearly the day her feelings had started to change for Naruto.

///Flashback///

_Ino was ten years old and helping her mother in the flower shop by watering all the plants while her mother took care of the customers. She was working by the front door when she heard it open. Looking over to see who had come in, she was shocked to see a mass of bright blonde hair, and a very nervous Naruto standing just inside the door looking as if he was going to bolt at any moment._

"_Naruto? What are you doing here?" Ino asked in confusion. Not once that she could remember had he ever come into her family's store._

"_W-well, the thing is." He stated nervously, surprising the young girl even more. "The thing is that my brother says I need to find something to do that will help me learn to be calm and patient." He said this with a little distaste in his voice. "He then told me I should try gardening and that I should come here to find out more about it, and maybe buy a plant or to." Naruto looked very much like someone had a kunai to his throat and was forcing him to do there bidding. Ino could not help but let out a little snigger at the boys obvious reluctance to be there._

"_Well mamas busy with another customer right now but maybe I can help you." Ino stated confidently. After all she had been helping her mother for years so she knew a thing or two about plants._

"_Thanks Ino, you have no idea how clueless I am on these things." Naruto stated with obvious relief._

_Ino started by telling him all about the different types of flowers available and what they meant. After about twenty minutes, the two were talking about anything and everything. After around two hours or so, Naruto was holding a single potted bush and a couple packets of seeds, along with a book to help beginning gardeners._

"_Thanks for all your help Ino. I don't know what I would have done without you."_

"_No problem Naruto, it was actually a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be. Make sure to come back if you ever need any help, or if you decide to get more plants."_

"_Sure thing Ino-chan, well I'll see you later." With that Naruto began to jog of in the direction of his house._

_As Ino went back to work she was suddenly hit by what he had said as he left. 'Ino-_chan_ since when have I ever been Ino-_chan_.' She thought that she should be furious with him for the term of affection, but for some reason it didn't sound so bad._

///Flashback End///

Naruto still came to the flower shop often and still called her Ino-chan when they were talking alone. But when they were at school, he never let on that they really knew each other outside of it. She was still trying to figure out how she felt about that.

As he watched Sasuke struggling to free himself from his assailants, Jagaa heard a slight chuckle coming from his side. He looked over to see Naruto apparently trying to hold back his laughter at the scene.

"Poor Sasuke, eh." He said with a large grin. " We are fortunate enough that Ino and Sakura scare so many fan girls that even ours don't try to come after us when there around. Sasuke is the only one who has to suffer while we are actually in class."

Even as he watched his otouto laugh, Jagaa could see the hidden pain behind it. Naruto was trying to hide it, but Jagaa had figured it out a long time ago. Ever since the first day Naruto had started coming back from the flower shop with a gentle smile on his face, and the slight pain that showed through every time Sasuke was got his daily glompings.

Naruto _really _likes Ino.

But being the type of person he was he would never act on it. That fact alone was enough to make Jagaa want to strangle his brother, especially since he could also tell that Ino didn't put as much heart into glomping Sasuke as she used to. This made him wonder if her feelings for him were lessening and Naruto might have a chance. If only he could find a way to confirm it. But for now he just had to watch in silent frustration as his otouto hid his pain from the world behind his mask yet again.

Deciding enough was enough, Jagaa used his ace in the whole to stop the glomping session and pull his brother out of his depression.

"Well today is the day of the exam, so I guess it is time to prove to you both that I am right about how we can get Iruka-sensei one last time." He knew that the bait would work, so he just sat back and waited for them to bite.

Sasuke and Naruto's attention immediately turned from the fangirls to Jagaa, with Sasuke practically throwing the two girls off him in order to respond. "There is no way I will believe it until I see it!" He stated with defiance.

"I agree Nii-san!" Naruto said, "There is just no way it could be true!"

"Well Iruka-sensei should be here any minute, so we will be able to test my theory then wont we?" Jagaa said with a bit of a smirk.

As if on cue, Iruka walked through the door and started yelling for the class to settle down. He froze up however when he saw the slightly evil looks his three, as he liked to playfully call them, archenemies were giving him. He knew what was about to happen.

"Iruka-sensei, today is the day we will finally finish this once and for all!" Jagaa stated, the challenge in his voice clearly evident.

"Do your worst boys, I withstood your last attack and I feel no need to fear this one." It was true, he had survived their last attempt on him. He now felt if he could survive that with no blood loss, he could take anything.

The trio took their positions next to each other. "Are you prepared Iruka-sensei?" Jagaa asked. The entire class was on the edge of there seat, excited to find out what would happen with this finale challenge.

"Do your worst boys." Iruka said confidently.

"Let's do it!" Naruto yelled. And soon three voices yelled henge all at once.

And there they were, the source of all his prior blood loss. Iruka could only brace him self for what they would throw at him this time.

Furthest to the right stood a beauty with bright blonde hair put up in two pig tails and gorgeous blue eyes. Even the whisker marks only seemed to add to her beauty. Next to her stood the second beauty. This girl had long free falling brown hair and beautiful bright green eyes that rivaled even the blue of the blonde. Finally there came the last of his worries, the just as equally beautiful black eyed angel. Her pitch black hair was in a single pony tail that ran down her back.

Last time they had rushed him, and began rubbing their perfect bodies against him. But Iruka had boldly withstood, and thwarted the blood that wished to flee from his nose. He knew he was prepared for anything they might throw at him. That was until he realized that it was not him, that they planned on rubbing on. Oh no, it was so much more devastating than that.

The three beautiful girls began rubbing on, _each other_!

The brown haired girl stood behind the blonde, slowly caressing her down her side and across her stomach, while at the same time the blacked haired girl was crouched low, with her face very close to you know were on the blonde, and stroked the blonde's legs sensually while looking at him with longing in her eyes.

"Iruka-sama," the brown haired girl said pleadingly. "Please don't leave us to do this alone." After that she took her bottom lip in between her teeth, while looking at him with a sensual pout.

Now in Iruka's defense, he had held up incredibly up to that point. But at those words, and that final look, he did what any other non gay, red blooded male would have done. He got a nose bleed that launched him over his desk, and straight into the black board, where after falling to the ground, he lost enough blood to make everyone present start to wonder if he would truly survive.

With three puffs of smoke, the trio of boys once again stood where previously the objects of all men's desires had stood. Naruto and Sasuke stood with looks of shock on their face, and Jagaa with a triumphant one on his.

"Ha I told you it would work and you didn't believe me. Now pay up!" Jagaa said with a huge grin, as the two other boys sullenly took out there wallets and handed him some money.

"I just don't get it!" Sasuke suddenly shouted. "Why would it work when we rubbed on each other, but not when we rubbed on him?"

"Yeah, it doesn't make sense. Wouldn't any guy rather have the beautiful women rubbing on him than each other?" Naruto said with a confused look.

"Oh my poor, innocent little boys, it is times like this that shows how much you truly have to learn." Jagaa said with a sympathetic smile. "One day you will understand the joys of seeing women engaging each other in such activities and more. And then, truly, ye shall be considered men!"

Naruto and Sasuke looked at the boy in front of them who was grinning from ear to ear at their confusion, then at each other, then at the rest of the class to see there reaction to Jagaa's speech. Most of the boys looked as confused as they felt, though there were some that were nodding their heads solemnly in agreement, and some were even blushing deep scarlet, along with every girl in the room.

"The three of you get to you seats NOW!" Iruka yelled having finally come back to the world of consciousness. He had Kleenex shoved up both nostrils to stop the blood flow and did not seem pleased to have lost so spectacularly to the three boys. '_Damn'_ he thought. _'I should have known not to underestimate Jagaa.'_ The only pleasure he could pull from his defeat, was the knowledge that this was the last time they would be able to do that to him.

"All right, now that we are all here. It is time to start your graduation exams!"

Everyone in the classroom tensed up in excitement at Iruka's announcement. After four years of training, they were finally going to be able to become shinobi.

Naruto was easily the most excited, and the most nervous of them all. He wanted nothing more than to pass and make his brother proud, but he knew he was screwed if they gave the **Bunshin no Jutsu **for the exam final. Of all the skills they had learned, Naruto could almost keep up with his brother and Sasuke in everything but that, with his clones always coming out sickly or dead.

Naruto's thoughts once again turned to Jagaa, the two year older brother he idolized. He looked behind him to where his brother sat, and silently started to snigger. He remembered time when the Hokage had first asked Jagaa if he was interested in becoming a shinobi of the leaf. Jagaa had only tilted his head to the side, and calmly asked "What the hell is a shinobi?" It was quickly decided he would have to start from year one in Naruto's class.

Jagaa's first day at the academy had been interesting to say the least. Naruto let his mind wander back to his favorite part of it.

///Flashback///

_They were going over different weapons a shinobi will use, and came to the most know and used of them all. The Kunai! Every student was required to take a few and throw them at the target. _

_Sasuke of course got a perfect score. Most of the students had made them at least a most of theirs stick. Hell even Naruto had planted one in the target. Jagaa however, not only didn't stick the target, he missed every shot by at least ten feet._

_However he didn't seem to mind at all when the other students (except Naruto didn't want to and Sasuke who never did anyways) started to laugh. He just shrugged and said, "I don't like how these things feel."_

_The others were probably about to start telling him to 'stop making up excuses' or something. When they noticed he was walking back towards the weapons table. This time however, instead of picking up a kunai, he grabbed a stack of Shuriken._

_He started walking back to the throwing line again, but before he had even gotten there he had already started throwing them. The shock that went through students and teachers alike was highly evident as the watched the first one hit in the dead center. The ones following landed within millimeters to the left and right of the first, and the next ones next to those and so on. In the end there were ten shuriken in the target and not one of them outside the bull's-eye._

_As every one stared at him with dumbfounded expressions, the teachers asked him if he had ever used shuriken before. "Not that I can remember." Was the answer they received. When another teacher asked how he had managed to use them so well without training. Jagaa just shrugged casually and stated "I like the way they feel."_

///Flashback End///

To this day, Jagaa could was completely unrivaled at using shuriken, and completely hopeless when it came to kunai. In fact, his favorite thing to do when they had kunai practice, was to throw all the shuriken he carried at the furthest away tree, very clearly and neatly spelling ' I Hate Kunai '.

Naruto still laughed hysterically every time he did it.

Across the room from Naruto, Sasuke was also looking back at Jagaa and thinking back to the day he had showed up. Unlike Naruto however, his thoughts were not on the kunai incident. Sasuke's thoughts were focused on later in the day. The event that had been the reason Jagaa always sat in the back right corner of class where no one could get behind him without being seen first.

///Flashback///

_The class had just come back inside from there lesson on shinobi weapons, and Sasuke was none__ too__ pleased. He had scored perfectly with his kunai, and the new kid had failed miserably. But Jagaa had more than made up for with how he had excelled in shuriken. Sasuke was positive that even he would not be able to keep that many shuriken within the small circle that was the bull's-eye._

_It was for this reason a very pissed off Uchiha was glaring at the sunglass wearing kid, and managed to see exactly what happened._

_Naruto was talking to Jagaa, most likely about his display with the shuriken. When a boy sitting behind them reached out and touched Jagaa's shoulder to get his attention._

_Almost to fast for Sasuke to follow, the boy was suddenly flung over Jagaa, landing solidly on his back on the desk in front of him. Jagaa's sword was halfway out of it's sheath before Naruto realized what was happening and, after grabbing his arm to keep the sword from being drawn, started yelling Jagaa's name._

_Jagaa seemed to freeze at first, then he slowly looked at Naruto. As if remembering where he was, he let his sword slide back into its sheath. At the same time he began to apologize to the boy he had just attacked._

_Sasuke had felt something though. He didn't know what it was, but it had made him a bit nervous. He had also wondered what kind of life makes __someone__ so young so quick to attack. Even though Sasuke had been being trained since he was little, he did not have an attack reflex like that. Can you imagine what would have happened to all those glomping girls if he did?_

_After that, Iruka had made that back right corner Jagaa's permanent seat in order to avoid anything like that happening again in the future._

///Flashback End///

That incident had also marked him as a fan girl target instantly from that point on. The way he had reacted, combined with his choice of clothes that hid most of his body, not to mention the sunglasses he wore that hid his eyes so effectively, made him the target of all the 'Mystery Man' lovers. It also did not help that, no matter how open he may seem these days. He outright refused to answer any questions about his past. The little that he could remember that was.

However before Sasuke could muse on his current train of thought any longer, he was brought back to the present when Iruka began to make the announcement that the test was about to start.

"We are now going to begin taking you one at a time into the next room. We will be going in the order of clan names. Meaning Jagaa, seeing as you have no clan name, you will go first." Iruka stated.

"Hai, Hai." Jagaa sighed as he got up. That was one of the other things people found strange about him. He was legally Naruto's brother, but he refused to take on his clan name. When someone would ask him about his decision, he would simply state, "I wont taint anyone else's name, especially Naruto's." Then he would simply go about his business, leaving the questioner to wonder what he could possibly mean with his statement.

Jagaa gave Naruto a quick encouraging grin as he began to walk out the door, which Naruto gave back in full force. As soon as Jagaa had left though, a fairly worried look took its place, as he silently prayed to Kami. "Please let it be anything but **Bunshin no Jutsu**."

X X X X X

"Where is he?" Jagaa asked.

Sasuke only nodded in the direction of the swing. Where Naruto sat, looking sad and alone.

"Damn it, out of all the things they have to choose from, they just had to go and make it the **bunshin**." Jagaa said sadly. Shaking his head he turned to Sasuke. "Let's go see what we can do for him."

Sasuke nodded, and both of them began to walk to Naruto. Until they were suddenly stopped by a group of swooning fan girls who just had to congratulate them.

'_Shit, why now?_' Jagaa thought furiously. He was getting ready to just shove his way through, when he noticed something. Of the two normal front runners of the Sasuke horde, one was missing. Glancing around quickly he managed to spot Ino. The sight he saw almost made want to shout in triumph.

Ino was standing slightly apart from the crowd, looking directly at Naruto, with sadness filling her eyes. She was currently in a mental debate with herself. On one hand she wanted to go over and try to cheer Naruto up, but on the other she was afraid that by trying she would just make him feel worse. To top that off, Naruto had usually acted a bit distant with her when they were at school, so she wasn't sure if he wanted her to even act like she cared. So she just stood there, completely unable to decide if she should move forward or back.

Jagaa could practically see what Ino was thinking right now. He could only hope that she would make the decision to go to Naruto. As he stood there mentally cheering her on, he saw her face take on a slightly surprised look. Following her gaze back to Naruto, Jagaa began to curse every god he could think of just to be sure he got the one that seemed determined to screw up Naruto's life.

Standing by Naruto was none other than Mizuki. He was talking with Naruto and seemed to have asked him to go somewhere some where with him, since Naruto started to get off the swing.

Jagaa was determined to stop Naruto from going anywhere, and was just about to rush forward to stop him, when he was suddenly knocked back by a fan girl who had just slammed into his stomach as she wrapped her arms around him and started to congratulate him. Having temporarily lost sight of Naruto, Jagaa instantly looked to the swing to see that both Naruto and Mizuki were gone. He then looked at Ino to see her walking away with a forlorn expression on her face.

Jagaa yet again began cursing whatever god seemed to hate Naruto so much. He was also wondering how much trouble he would get in if he stuck a few shuriken up Mizuki's ass for screwing up Ino's chance to comfort Naruto.

X X X X X

Naruto sat with Mizuki on the roof that Mizuki had lead them to. Neither had spoken since they got here. They had just been staring at the setting sun.

"Naruto, Iruka didn't want to fail you, you know." Mizuki finally said. "He just wants you to be strong, since he sees so much of himself in you. He also knows how much you love your brother, but he wants you to see that Jagaa can't always be there to make everything right again."

"I know that!" Naruto said, barley holding back his tears. "It's just that I wanted so badly to make him proud of me! To show him he didn't always _have_ to be there to make it right, that I could take care of myself, but I screwed up and now I can't even face him!" He buried his face in his knees knowing that he could not hold back the tears for long, and not wanting Mizuki to see him cry.

"You know Naruto, there may just be a way for you to still pass the exam, and show your brother exactly what you wanted to." Mizuki said

Naruto's face shot up instantly, his face longing for any hope, no matter how small it might be.

X X X X X

Jagaa and Sasuke had been searching for Naruto for several hours now. They had looked everywhere they could possibly think of him to go with no luck.

Sasuke had decided to go check the apartment again to see if Naruto had gone home while they were out searching, which left Jagaa searching alone on the outskirts of the village. He was considering going to check at the Hokage monument again, when he spotted Mizuki moving along the rooftops a ways away, moving towards an area of the forest that Jagaa had yet to check.

Even though Jagaa still wanted to carry out his shuriken idea, he knew he had more important things to worry about right now, so he decided to save it for later. "Well, he was the last person I saw Naruto with. Maybe he'll know where to find him." Jagaa mused to himself. Picking up his pace he headed in the direction Mizuki had gone.

X X X X X

Naruto couldn't to anything as he watched Mizuki getting ready to throw the fuma shuriken. Still being in shock after what he had been told, every thing seemed to be going in slow motion. His mind was racing as he saw the weapon start to fly towards him.

_It can't be true can it? Am I really a demon? All the glares, all the beatings were because I'm the demon who killed so many people! _

_But I'm not a demon, I can't be!_

_But what if I am? Does that mean I really do deserve to die?_

_No it wasn't me! I didn't do it I never asked for this. I can't really be a demon! _

_Can I_

Naruto's conscious mind again noticed the shuriken coming at him and he knew that he was going to die. Demon or human it wouldn't matter soon. He found that strangely comforting. He vaguely registered the injured Iruka running towards him, but it didn't matter. Naruto knew it was too late. He closed his eyes and waited for the end to come.

_**CLANG, SMASH**_

Those two sounds caused Naruto's eyes to snap open. Directly in front of him was Iruka, apparently planning to take the hit for Naruto.

The look on his face though, said that was not what had happened.

Iruka turned his head to face behind him, and Naruto leaned over to look around his sensei.

Jagaa stood about six feet behind Iruka with his sword drawn, and in a position that looked as if he had just used a downward slash, while the Fuma Shuriken was embedded in the ground just behind Iruka's feet.

Seeing his older brother there made Naruto both happy, and terrified at the same time. He had no idea what Jagaa had heard. If he had heard that Naruto had a demon inside him, how would he react? Would he start to see Naruto as a demon as well? Would he leave him alone again? Just thinking these things hurt more than Naruto would have ever thought possible. He was on the verge of breaking down in tears when Jagaa spoke, his voice low but still very clear.

"Naruto, tell me! Just who and what you are?"

Naruto couldn't believe it. His brother really did think he was a demon. He felt like his heart was falling apart, making razor sharp shards to continue tearing at his insides. His head fell in defeat and heartache.

"Since you can't seem to answer then I'll do it for you." Jagaa said straightening up and re-sheathing his sword with his back to Naruto and Iruka.

"You are a lazy ass in the morning that has to be dragged out of bed to be on time for school. You tend to be loud and obnoxious and used to wear the most frightening clothes I have ever seen. You are currently one of the most fan girl wanted boys in school and the best friend of Uchiha Sasuke." Jagaa looked up at the sky as he continued. "You are also one of the kindest and most caring people I have ever met. Someone who can make anyone feel better just by being around them. You are someone who has stayed kind and caring even when being treated like shit by the people around you. You are _Uzumaki Naruto_. But most importantly…" Jagaa then turned around and looked directly at Naruto, a gentle smile on his face.

"You are my otouto, and that is all that matters."

Naruto couldn't speak as he looked at his brother. Every thing he had just heard slowly seeped into his mind, and he fully understood what Jagaa had just said. Before he could stop himself, and he doubt he would have anyways. He just threw himself at his brother and hugged him tightly as the tears fell. He didn't care if anyone saw him crying. He didn't care what that he had been told he was a demon. He didn't even care anymore about what had happened to him in the past. All he cared about was that his brother still saw him exactly as he did before, as his otouto.

Standing behind them, Iruka could not stop his own tears from forming as he watched the two brothers. He could practically feel the love the two brothers had for each other, and he could not help but feel proud of and happy for both of them.

The touching moment was short lived though, as the forgotten Mizuki decided he had had enough and jumped down from his spot in the tree.

"Hmff, I had hoped that you only accepted that thing because you were ignorant of what he was, but it would seem that you are no better than that demon you call a brother!" Mizuki said with nasty sneer

Both Naruto and Jagaa looked over at the sneering Mizuki. They slowly broke apart, Naruto glaring at the traitor teacher in anger.

Jagaa's hand had begun to rise to the hilt of his sword again, when it was suddenly stopped by Naruto. "Nii-san, could you let me handle him?" Naruto asked. Jagaa looked at Naruto, and was about to tell Naruto that he would take care of it, but then he saw the look in the deep blue eyes of his otouto. Jagaa did not want to let him, knowing that Naruto could get hurt. But deep down, he also knew that Naruto needed this.

"All right, but you better kick his ass." Jagaa said

Naruto nodded with confidence. Turning to Mizuki, he smirked at the traitor. "Oy, Mizuki-teme, I just figured out a way to accomplish my goal without having to graduate!" Naruto made a cross shape seal and yelled "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**"

Iruka could only look on in amazement as he saw hundreds of Naruto's suddenly filling the forest. In the trees, on the ground surrounding them they were everywhere. From what Iruka could tell Jagaa had been shocked as well when all the clones appeared, but now he seemed to also have a slightly confused frown.

Mizuki only had one thing on his frightened mind as the hundreds of Narutos closed in on him.

"I am so fucked!"

X X X X X

"Okay Naruto, you can open them now."

Naruto slowly opened his eyes when he heard Iruka's voice, only to see said Chuunin sitting in front of him with no hitai-ate on his forehead, and a widely grinning Jagaa standing behind him.

"Congratulations Naruto, you passed." Iruka said with huge smile. Naruto losing all control jumped onto the injured man and started fiercely hugging and thanking him. After a loud 'Itai' from Iruka, Naruto backed off and started apologizing while rubbing the back of his head. He felt a gentle hand come to rest on his shouler and looked up at the face of his older brother. Who, with a gentle smile, said the words that completed turning one of the worst days in Naruto's life, into one of the best.

"I'm proud of you otouto."

Naruto was completely happy now. He knew there was no way this day could get any better.

"Well, my injuries don't seem as bad as I first though. So why don't I take you both out for some ramen to celebrate your graduation." Iruka said

Okay, _now_ there was no way it could get any better. Naruto started jumping up and down screaming 'ramen' at the top of his voice. No matter how many times Jagaa tried to teach Naruto about having more control, his newly acquired discipline always seemed to disappear at the very mention of ramen.

"You two go on ahead." Jagaa said. "I'll catch up once I deal with Mizuki." Iruka figured he must have meant handing him over to ANBU or something, so he agreed. With Naruto's help, he stood up, and the two of them began leaving the forest in the direction of 'Ichiraku's'.

X X X X X

Mizuki groaned as consciousness slowly returned to him, his body feeling like he had just rolled down a very rocky mountain. The last thing he remembered was the hundreds of Naruto clones closing in on him from all sides.

"God damned demon brat!" Mizuki said as he painfully opened his eyes. "I swear I am going to…" whatever he had planned on saying died on his lips when he saw who was standing over him.

Mizuki felt like he was looking at the devil himself as he stared up at Jagaa. There was no emotion, no facial expression, and because of his sunglasses no way to see his eyes, just a feeling of icy calm that froze Mizuki to his soul.

"You were right about one thing tonight Mizuki." Jagaa said in calm voice. "I am no better than Naruto. No one is better than Naruto. His love and kindness knows no bounds, even to the point that he willingly spares someone that tried to kill him!" He said the last part with a little more force in his voice.

"That is why I will never be better than Naruto, I am not so forgiving." Jagaa's hand reached up and gripped the hilt of his sword. It made a steely hiss as it slowly came out of its sheath. "I am also a firm believer in the saying 'dead enemies don't cause more problems'." He reversed his grip on his sword and struck.

Mizuki could only watch in horror as the sword came free. The killing intent that had begun to radiate off Jagaa with the drawing of his sword was incredible, even though the icy calm never left him. '_Who the hell is he_' was the last thing that ran through his mind just before Jagaa's sword drove into his heart.

X X X X X

Jagaa wiped his sword using a piece of the now dead Mizuki's shirt. He didn't even need to turn around to know who had just shown up at the scene. He was actually surprised it took them this long. "I plan on going to see the Hokage some time tomorrow. Tonight I need to make sure that Naruto is really okay after every thing that happened to him today." He said to the group standing behind him. Re-sheathing his sword he then turned around to look at the group of four ANBU he had grown familiar with through the years.

"Couldn't you have waited to kill Mizuki until after we questioned him?" The man who was the leader and wore a painted eagle mask asked with a slight sigh. "He might have had some connections we needed to know about."

"Well then don't take so long to get here next time." Jagaa said with a slight smirk as he started to walk away. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to meet Naruto and Iruka-sensei for some ramen."

The four ANBU watched him in silence as he walked away. Finally the man in the eagle mask turned to his three subordinates. "Well, lets get this cleaned up before we report to the Hokage."

X X X X X

Jagaa walked up to the ramen stand where Iruka and Naruto were already eating happily. Iruka seemed to be trying to tell Naruto of the dangers that the life of a shinobi would entail, but Naruto was to busy slurping his noodles to pay much attention. Jagaa could not help but smile at the scene.

"Sorry it took so long." Jagaa said as he sat down next to Naruto.

"That wasn't long at all really." Iruka said, while Naruto continued to slurp. "What did you end up doing with Mizuki?"

"A group of ANBU showed up, so I just left the cleanup to them." Jagaa stated in an offhanded manner as he was handed a bowl of ramen by Ayame.

"Well at least we know that Mizuki will be taken care of. I hope they give him an appropriate punishment." Iruka said seriously.

"Don't worry sensei, I am positive he was dealt with appropriately." Jagaa said. He then began slurping noodles right along side Naruto.

**A/N**: Well that's the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews are both welcome and appreciated. Flames will be laughed at so I guess you can leave those to.


	2. What a Day!

Disclaimer: Jagaa is mine but I do not own Naruto, and if you think I do then start clicken them heels Dorothy cause you aint in Kansas anymore.

Chapter 2: What a day!!!

"Could you not have waited to kill him until after we questioned him?" The Sandaime said in a slightly tired voice. Jagaa had finally come in to report the incident from the night before.

"He tried to kill Naruto, old man. He was _not_ walking away alive." Jagaa said in a very calm voice.

Sarutobi just sighed a little at the comment. Truth be told, he fully supported Jagaa's decision in the matter, considering how fond the Sandaime was of Naruto. But being Hokage meant the old man had to at least make it seem as if he were trying to look at the matter in an un biast way.

"We still needed to see what other ties or accomplices he might have had. At least try to think about these types of things next time." The Hokage finished.

"I will see what I can do but I won't make any promises."

"So how is Naruto doing after finding out?" The Sandaime asked. Concern for was Naruto clearly evident in his voice.

"A lot better than I thought he would, but I think he is still a bit shaken about finding out about the Kyuubi. Knowing that you have been hated all your life for something you had no choice in can be a pit painful." Jagaa answered. His tone was mild, but the Hokage clearly felt the spike of killing intent that briefly radiated from the boy in front of him. Jagaa was very pissed off at how Naruto had been treated.

"I am truly sorry for what has happed to him in the past, but there was nothing I could do about it. The villagers hated and feared the Kyuubi, so they take it out on his jailer. There is no cure for the stupidity of a human I am sorry to say."

"The fact that it is stupidity is the only thing keeping them alive. Since I met Naruto I decided, for his sake, that I would not kill people just for being stupid. Despite how he has been treated, he still cares about this village and its people. It would break his heart to find out I was killing them off."

"So I take it he dose not know about the ones you _have_ killed then."

"What Naruto doesn't know won't hurt him. Besides, I claim self defense in regards to the previously mentioned deaths. It was not my fault they decided they needed to kill the '_protector of the demon_'. I just did to them what they wanted to do to me. You should at least be happy that I spared the drunks, and only killed the sober ones that knew exactly what they were doing." Jagaa said, his voice never loosing that calm tone.

The Sandaime gave off a slight sigh. "You are aware that you are now a shinobi of the leaf correct. It is your duty to protect the village and its people."

"I will, unless they decide to start attacking me again. The second they do they will be nothing more than enemies and you are well aware of my philosophy on enemies."

The old man could only nod at the response. He knew it was coming anyway. "I guess that we just have to hope for them to continue to leave you alone then." He paused to take a drag from his pipe. "So tell me, what do you plan to do about Sasuke? He is the two of yours friend is he not. Are you going to tell him about Naruto?"

"That is up to Naruto. I personally think Sasuke should know, but Naruto is afraid to tell him. After the way he has been treated by the rest of the villagers I can understand why. Naruto told me about a few times when someone would act like they accepted him, just to try to kill him when he let his guard down." Another spike of killing intent came and vanished instantly. "Naruto may trust Sasuke, but some scars run to deep to ever truly be forgotten."

"I hope it goes well if he does tell him." The Sandaime really wanted to get off the subject of the villagers.

"I believe in Sasuke. He will be fine with it." Jagaa's voice got a little hard as he continued. "Sasuke has already seen that you don't have to have a demon inside of you, in order to be one."

Sarutobi knew Jagaa was talking about Sasuke's brother Itachi. He could only agree with the assessment of the boy in front of him on the older Uchiha.

It was time for this meeting to end though, the killing intent spikes were starting to work the old mans nerves. "Let's go ahead and end our little talk here shall we. I was going to ask you to sit in on a few meetings I have later with some dignitaries, but you probably want to go look after Naruto."

Jagaa turned and started towards the door as he said, "Actually Naruto is with Sasuke right now. He came by earlier to see if Naruto had been found. The two of them left together planning to spar before I came to see you. I am hoping that Naruto will tell Sasuke when they are training, but like I said that is up to Naruto." Jagaa walked out the door without a backwards glance.

The old man chuckled at the teen's hasty departure. '_He made sure to get out the door before I could tell him the times of the meetings. He must really hate them, but it's his fault for having such a useful, if not uncanny, ability_.' The Hokage then looked up at the pictures that hung on his wall, focusing the one of a blonde man.

"Naruto has a rather interesting guardian angle, wouldn't you say Arashi."

(((Break)))

Jagaa breathed a sigh of relief as he walked down the streets of Konoha. He had managed to get out of the Hokage tower without the old man getting him to commit to sitting in on those damn meetings. Not that he minded helping the old man out now and then, it was just that they were so damn boring. A couple stuck up dignitaries being overly polite while trying to gain some kind of favor from the powerful shinobi village. If it weren't for his little 'talent', as Jagaa sometimes referred to it, he would not have to sit in on those meetings at all. Sometimes he really hated it. But at least it kept him honest.

He was regretting one thing a little though. Throughout the course of the conversation he had forgotten that he had wanted to talk to the Hokage about something he had seen last night. Even though now he was starting to doubt if he had really seen it at all.

Naruto had just used his new technique and the forest was filled with other Narutos. Jagaa had watched in amazement as his brother, who could not even do the regular **Bunshin no Jutsu** had just pulled the Jounin level **Kagebunshin no Jutsu**. The weird thing though, was that as they charged Mizuki, Jagaa could swear he saw them all turn into blue energy with a human shape, but it passed so fast he doubted his eyes, especially since Iruka had not seemed to notice anything.

He was running the event through his mind again when he felt a familiar chakra signature pull up beside him. Looking over he saw that a pretty woman with long dark red hair and bright green eyes walking beside him. He knew she was in a **henge**. It was standard procedure for all of them to be in a **Henge** when they talked to him without there masks. He was not supposed to know who they were after all.

"So what do you want today Kitten." Jagaa said to the only woman in the four man ANBU squad that always followed him around. Since he didn't know there names, he made some up for them based on the mask they wore. She wore a cat, so she was 'Kitten'.

The **Henged** woman looked at him with an amused expression. "The boss wants us to keep an eye on you today, just in case you feel a need to vent some fury on any passing villagers."

"Tell Bird Brain to shove it up his ass. He knows I don't attack first, I never have." Jagaa and the eagle mask wearing leader of the four ANBU did not get along very well. Jagaa wondered if it was because the first time they had met, Jagaa asked him if it meant anything that he wore a chicken mask. It really did look like one back then, but it seemed that the mask wearing man took great offence to the remark. Now they just seemed to get on each others nerves.

"How'd I know you would say that?" Kitten said as she closed her eyes and laughed. When she opened them she noticed Jagaa was shaking his head, as if to clear it. "What's wrong?"

Jagaa was really starting to worry about his eyesight. For just a moment when Kitten had laughed her hair turned jet black and she seemed a little shorter. But the changes had disappeared as soon as he saw them. '_Maybe I need to get more sleep_'

"It's nothing I just think I'm starting to see things." Jagaa said with a small laugh, he then remembered something that had been bugging him and decided to ask Kitten about it.

"Hey Kitten, while I was talking with the old man earlier, the subject of my past little incidents with some of the villagers came up. As we talked about it I realized something. I have never once been attacked by a ninja, only regular villagers. I am not stupid enough to think that there are no leaf Shinobi that would attack me for protecting Naruto. Just as I am not arrogant enough to think I would have survived if they had. So I was wondering if you four had anything to do with it."

"Wow, _the_ Jagaa admitting that he could have been in trouble if a few ninja came after him." She knew he was about to say something on that so she continued. "As a matter of fact we have had to, shall we say _convince_ a few shinobi that attacking you would be highly frowned upon. You could almost say we are your guardian angles just like you are Naruto's." She had a huge smile on her face as she finished.

"I don't know about guardian angles. I would compare Bird Brain to a vindictive murderer who wants to kill me himself and gets rid of anyone who may take that privilege away from him. And I think you might be more like a stalker who wont let any one else near here crush. The other two maybe could qualify."

"I think the worst thing about that is the fact that's really what you're comparing us to. Well sorry to disappoint you but I am not into younger guys. Though, you might be right about the boss." She put her finger to her chin thoughtfully.

"So do you plan on following me around all day still?" Jagaa asked

"Actually no I don't. I have already thought of a way to keep you out of trouble, and punish you for all the paperwork I had to do on Mizuki's death." The evil glint that came to her eyes made Jagaa a little nervous.

"What are you planning to do to me?" Jagaa asked, he was trying hard to hide his nervousness about what she had in mind.

"Oh, just this." She then raised her head and yelled at the top of her voice. "Oh my god, Jagaa-kun I am so glad I found you. Would you go out with me tonight?"

It was almost instantaneous. As soon as the words left her lips, they were suddenly surrounded by raging fan girls Not just his either. Sasuke's and Naruto's had shown up too, knowing that wherever Jagaa was the other two were sure to be there.

"You are an evil woman do you know that?" Jagaa said as he looked franticly for an escape. Her only response was to laugh evilly as she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Jagaa saw the eyes of the Naruto and Sasuke lovers narrow on him dangerously. They wanted to know where the objects of their affections were, and they were willing to help capture Jagaa to get the information. Jagaa might be able to escape his own group of fan girls but if the other two groups joined in the chase he was doomed. So he did the only thing he could in that situation.

He would make it up to Naruto and Sasuke later.

"Naruto and Sasuke like to use area 11 when training. They also like to be comfortable when they spar so they tend to take their shirts off." Jagaa yelled at the girls.

With a loud gasp and an excited squeal two thirds of the horde of girls ran off in the direction of training ground 11.

Jagaa then made a break through one of the wholes left by the two groups leaving and proceeded to run for his life. Swearing to both make it up to Naruto and Sasuke for what was about to them, and somehow reap a terrible vengeance upon Kitten.

(((Break)))

Naruto and Sasuke walked in silence to the training field. Sasuke had tried to strike up a conversation a few times, but Naruto was too lost in thought to respond to the Uchiha with more than a few grunts. Sasuke had been struck with a strange sense of role reversal from there younger days the whole way.

Naruto was at odds with himself. On one hand he was afraid to tell Sasuke about the secret he held inside himself. He had been betrayed to many times by people he thought he could trust, to be completely sure of how Sasuke would take the news. On the other hand his brother was right that if Sasuke was truly his friend it would not matter to him if Naruto held a demon inside of him. Jagaa's words kept running through Naruto's mind.

'_Naruto you need to tell him. I know that you are afraid of getting hurt again, but you have to do it. I mean think about it, if you can't even tell the person that you call your best friend without being afraid. Then who will you ever be able to tell._'

Naruto knew Jagaa was right, but he could not find the courage to form the words. He tried the whole way to do it, but they just wouldn't come out. When they finally got to the training grounds he decided on an approach more along the lines of what his brother might use.

"Hey Sasuke, have you ever had something important to tell someone, but were afraid to do it because of how they might react?"

Sasuke looked at him for a moment before answering. "What, you mean like confessing to a girl you like, and being rejected?"

Naruto flinched a little at that. It made him think of Ino. He had liked her for a while now, but would never tell her because of how she seemed to be so obsessed with Sasuke. There were two outcomes that he could think of to confessing to her. One, that she tell him that she liked Sasuke and that she and Naruto would never be more than friends. Two, that she says the same thing, minus the friend part, and that he has to stop going to the flower shop because she feels uncomfortable around him. Meaning he would almost never get to see her.

While Naruto might be able handle the first, since Sasuke was his best friend and Naruto wanted him to be happy. He could not even bear to think about the second. So he opted to just keep his mouth about it.

"That's actually a really good comparison." Naruto said with a small chuckle.

"What could be so important that you would be afraid to tell someone?" Sasuke asked. He was starting to get a little worried over his blonde friend's serious attitude.

"Something that has been kept secret for years, something that not even the person who it applied to knew about." Naruto was choosing his words carefully, just like Jagaa had taught him.

Sasuke however had known both Naruto and Jagaa for a long time. So he knew all about how Jagaa could tell the truth without saying it outright, or completely throw you off the truth without ever uttering a single false word, and since he felt like he was having a conversation with said person right now, it meant only one thing. Whatever Naruto was talking about, involved Naruto himself, and the person he wanted to tell, was Sasuke.

"I would tell them." Sasuke said in a comforting voice. "If this person that needs to be told is, truly the person who needs to tell friend, then that person will understand."

Naruto got a small smile on his face. He knew Sasuke had figured it out.

"Then I think I need to tell you exactly what happened to me after I failed the test yesterday. You might want to sit down, or you may fall on your ass."

(((Break)))

Sasuke fell on his ass hard. Whatever he had been expecting Naruto to tell him, that was not it. I mean how often is it that your best friend tells you that he has the most powerful demon in existence sealed inside his stomach. Sasuke could only sit there, slowly processing the information as he looked up at Naruto.

It didn't take to long though. As Sasuke looked at Naruto's rather anxious face, he came to a realization. Naruto may have the demon inside of him, but he was the furthest thing from a demon he had ever seen. Naruto was still just Naruto to him, an overly kind idiot who dreamed of becoming the Hokage, protecting the village and making his brother proud.

When Sasuke's thoughts came to the villagers though, they were anything but pleasant. He started to remember all the times they had told him that he should stay away from Naruto, that he was nothing but a menace. Sasuke had always thought that they were talking about the way Naruto used to be, always pulling pranks and acting obnoxious. So for a while, early into getting to know Naruto, Sasuke had been inclined to agree.

But now that he knew the real reason he had been told those things, Sasuke was pissed. His mind remembered every glare, every insult every snide comment that had been directed at Naruto. All that hatred towards someone who not only had no say in what happened to him, but didn't even know about it until less than twelve hours ago. He also suddenly remembered a few times when he had seen Naruto going home with torn, blood covered cloths. At the time Sasuke figured that Naruto had overdone it on training again. Now he had a new theory.

Oh yeah, Sasuke was definitely pissed off now.

Sasuke pulled himself out of his thoughts and looked up at Naruto again. His anger slowly died away as he saw the fear in Naruto's eyes, fear that Sasuke would start to think of him the same way the villagers did. It was time to fix that.

Sasuke stood up, bushing the dirt and grass of his shorts as he did. He then looked Naruto square in the eye and put on his best smirk.

"To bad that fox in you can't teach you how to fight better. A baka like you needs all the help you can get if you ever hope to beat me." He said calmly as he took off his shirt and got into a fighting stance.

Naruto looked stunned for a few seconds. Then a grin slowly spread across his face. Taking his own shirt off getting into his own stance he happily responded to the challenge. "I'm gonna make you eat those words teme."

Their spar lasted for several hours before they finally stopped from exhaustion. Sitting back to back on the grass, they both had a feeling of peace of mind.

"I could never have asked for a better friend, you know that right." Naruto said to the raven haired boy behind him.

"Of course you couldn't, I am Uchiha Sasuke after all." Sasuke said with a small laugh.

"You really are such a teme." Naruto said with his own laugh, as the two of them continued to enjoy the tranquility around them.

The peace was short lived however. Suddenly they heard aloud shout that seemed to be coming from several females.

"There they are, and there shirts _are _off."

Both boys looked to were the shout had come from, only to see a mass of girls heading directly at them. As they saw the mass closing the distance between them, both boys could only think one thing. '_Oh Shit_'

"Run." Sasuke yelled.

They were not sure if they could get away. But they were damn sure gonna try.

(((Break)))

Kyougu was sitting behind the counter and casually examining some kunai that he was about to put in the display. When suddenly the front door of his weapons shop flew open, and somebody that almost resembled a shadow came in, slamming the door behind him. After his surprise Kyougu took a closer look at his latest visitor. When he realized who it was he was both intrigued, and a bit apprehensive.

Black pants, boots, and hoodie, check. Strait blade sword with black hilt wrapping on his back, check. Black sunglasses that completely hide his eyes, check. No doubt about it. He was looking at the infamous brother of the demon container Naruto.

Jagaa.

Kyougu knew that Naruto was not really the demon and only the container. Just as he knew that Naruto was the only thing keeping everyone safe from the dreaded Kyuubi. That's why he was not revolted of upset to see his brother standing in his shop. The only question was 'why was he there'.

He was considering asking, when he saw a group of girls standing outside his window. They seemed to be searching for something intently. It was also then that Kyougu noticed how tense the boy at the door seemed to be. As the girls moved on, the black clad teen gave a sigh of relief that even a deaf man would have caught. '_Well that answers that question. He was hiding. Probably doesn't even know where he is right now. _' Kyougu decided to get the boys attention before he could slip out the door in his continued escape. "So kid, anything I can do for you?"

Jagaa gave a slight start when he heard a voice come from behind him. He had been so focused on getting away that he did not even notice there was another person in the building he had just ducked into. Turning around he saw that the other person was a well built, middle aged man, with dark brown hair, brown eyes and a highly amused expression on his face.

"Judging by your reaction, I would say that you did not know I was here." Kyougu said with a laugh.

Jagaa scratched the back of his head in embarrassment and gave a small chuckle. He had picked the habit up from Naruto and found that he liked it. "I was a little distracted when I ducked in here. I didn't even know it was a weapons shop. For all I knew it was some family's house."

Kyougu was staring at the teen in front of him with interest his earlier apprehension vanishing. All the stories he had heard about the young man made him out to be cold and ruthless. Completely shut off from everybody but Naruto. But here he was, scratching the back of his head and laughing in embarrassment at being caught unaware.

"Well since you're here anyway, let's go back to my first question. Is there anything I can do for you?"

Jagaa was thoughtful for a moment before he seemed to be struck by an idea. "How long does it take to get a sharpening job done on a sword?" he asked.

"Well that depends on the sword. Cheap swords are easy to sharpen because the metal is sub par. Meaning it gets dull quickly but can be sharpened quickly. Well made swords that use good metal take longer to sharpen, but will also hold the edge for quite a long time. Especially when used properly. So I guess what I am saying is that I would need to examine the sword to give you a good estimate." Okay, yeah Kyougu could have just said any where from a few hours to a few days, but he really wanted to see the kid's sword.

Kyougu watched as Jagaa seemed to mull it over. Then the boy walked up to the counter, drawing his blade from its sheath as he did. "I guess it won't hurt to find out how long mine would take." He said as he laid the sword on the counter.

Kyougu picked up the blade carefully, and began looking it over. His first thoughts when he saw the sword ones of slight shock. '_This is not the blade of someone so young, it can't be._'

Kyougu knew that all weapons told there own story, and the one he held in his hands was telling him a very painful one. Nicks, scratches and scars covered the blade, and there were traces of blood in some of them. Kyougu was shocked, but he hid it well. After all, the sword could have been handed down to Jagaa. Kyougu needed more facts before jumping to conclusions.

"So how long have you had this?" Kyougu asked as casually as he could.

"Well let's see. It's been four years since I came to this village, plus the three or so years I can remember before then, so, at least seven years now." Jagaa replied casually

It was common knowledge that Jagaa had no memory before a certain point in his life, but no one seemed to know more about him than that. Kyougu processed that as he asked his next question. "Really? So how long have you been a shinobi then?"

Jagaa's face took on an amused expression, and he looked up at the clock that hung on the wall behind the counter. "Oh, about twenty two hours now."

Kyougu almost choked when he heard that. "_What_, you look way to old to have just graduated from the academy. There is no way you can only be twelve."

"Well I'm actually fourteen, or at least that's what they decided, but anyway. Due to certain circumstances I was placed in the same class as my brother who is two years younger than me. That's why I only graduated yesterday." Jagaa said

Kyougu was at a loss now. The boy standing in front of him was only fourteen, and he had never even been on a D-ranked mission. Much less on that could make his sword look like this. That would mean that it had happened before, most likely before he ever came to the village. Kyougu knew that it all of the answers would come in his next question. Once again he made his voice as casual as possible, but this time he was watching the boy carefully.

"So how did this sword look when you first got it?"

If Kyougu hadn't been watching closely he would have missed it. Jagaa's expression showed no change, except for the slight shifting of skin near his eyes. He had narrowed them.

"It looked like a sword. Why?"

That was all the confirmation Kyougu needed. With that evasive answer the kid may as well have said it was brand new. '_Just what kind of life has this kid had? _' "No reason, I just noticed that it seemed to have a metal in here that I haven't seen before. I was curious about the effect it may have had." Well it wasn't a total lie. There was some strange metal in the alloy.

"So how long do you think it would take to sharpen my sword?" Jagaa asked

"Well It looks very well made, and because of the metal in here that I would have to identify. I would say at least three days. Is that acceptable?"

"Since I don't know if I will need it for the team selections tomorrow, no it isn't. However once I know how things are going to work when I get my team, I will find the time to come by." With that Jagaa picked up his sword and began to leave.

Before he got to the door he stopped and turned back around. "Before I go I have a question to ask _you_." Kyougu got a little nervous at the steel that seemed to come to the boy's voice. Maybe those rumors weren't so far off the mark after all.

"Ask away."

"Why are you being so friendly towards me?"

Kyougu didn't really know how to respond to that. In truth he was trying to show the kid that not everybody thought of him and Naruto as menaces, but he was also worried that the kid would take offence to it thinking it was pity or something. So he lied.

"Because you are a customer of course, it is only right that I am polite to my customers." He said with a smile.

Jagaa looked at him for a moment and then asked another question.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Not a clue, this is the first time we have met after all." Kyougu really just wanted the kid to feel comfortable around him. So he decided that feigning ignorance was probably the best choice.

Jagaa stared at him for a bit longer before he finally continued heading for the door. As he opened it to leave, he turned back to Kyougu once more.

"You know, it isn't nice to lie to your customers, but since I think you had good intentions behind it I will let it slide. I'll see you again once I know I have time for my sword to be sharpened." With that said, he calmly walked out the door.

Kyougu almost cut himself on the kunai he had been reaching for. '_How in the Hell _'

(((Break)))

Jagaa managed to get back to his apartment without drawing the attention of any still searching fan girls. One thing was for sure, he had to give them credit for persistence. When he climbed through the window he was a little surprised to see both Naruto and Sasuke already there. He started trying very hard to ignore his conscience on the fact both of them looked like they had been attacked by wild animals.

"You two look like shit."

"No kidding." Sasuke said as he looked up at the new arrival. "We've spent the last three hours running from half the girls in the village. We were lucky we got away with our cloths on."

"What I can't understand is how they found us. They never have before so why today." Naruto said from the floor were he was lying.

"Tell ya what, why don't you two get cleaned up and then we'll go out to eat tonight. You both look like you could use it."

"Yatta, Ramen, Ramen, Ramen."

"We don't always have to eat ramen dobe. Let's go somewhere we can get some real food for once."

Jagaa let out a relieved sigh as Naruto and Sasuke started arguing over where to go eat. He was glad his distraction had worked and they had not asked him about how they could have been found. His no lying policy would have bit him in the ass then. Besides, he may have promised himself to make it up to them, but he had never promised to tell them exactly who had sold them out.

So if they didn't ask he wouldn't tell.

A/N: Well there ya have it, the second chapter. For anyone who does not like the lack of action and fight scenes, I am going to be taking care of that a bit in the next chapter. Anyway please R&R, constructive criticism is always welcome.


	3. Teams and Descisions

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but I do own the laptop that I use to write this fic does that count.

Chapter 3: Teams and Decisions

"Naruto I swear, if you don't quit messing with that thing I am going to ban you from Ramen for a week." Jagaa said annoyed

"But I can't help it." Naruto said, as he once again adjusted his haiti-ate. "I still have trouble believing that I have it, and that the whole thing wasn't a dream or something."

"Well you're annoying the crap out of me the way you keep playing with it. So leave it alone already."

"By the way Nii-san, where is your haiti-ate?" Naruto asked. Both Sasuke and Naruto had theirs no their foreheads, but he could not see Jagaa's any were.

"It's right here. It's more comfortable." Jagaa said as he pointed to his waist. Naruto took a closer look and almost fell over.

Instead of having the normal haiti-ate that was a grey steel plate with the leaf carved in it, stuck to a blue cloth. Jagaa's was black steel with the leaf carving colored red set on a black cloth. With the rest of his cloths also being black, the only thing that was easy to see was the red leaf symbol.

"Did you paint that yourself?" Sasuke asked who had looked along with Naruto.

"Actually I ordered it a couple weeks before we graduated. I just wasn't allowed to pick it up until I brought my official one as proof that I passed. No way was I wearing gray and blue." Jagaa had an almost offended look on his face.

Both Sasuke and Naruto sweat dropped. "Don't you think that you may have a problem with the whole black thing Nii-san?"

"I don't want to hear it from someone who stunts his growth eating nothing but ramen."

"NANI, what's wrong with ramen?"

Sasuke just shook his head as he listened to Naruto defend his favorite food. '_It's so easy to change the subject when you talk with Naruto. Just mention ramen and you're clear._'

Naruto was about to go into his favorite speech about the wonders of ramen, when the three boys heard the words that always chilled them to the bone.

"Sasuke-kun" "Naruto-kun" "Jagaa-kun"

They didn't even need to look back to know what was heading for them. Jagaa immediately took charge.

"RUN LIKE HELL."

X X X X X

Iruka was surprised, to say the least, when his three favorite trouble makers came bursting through the classroom door, slamming it behind them. All three of them were sweating bullets and panting like they had just run around all of Konoha at top speed. Witch actually they had.

"Are you three okay?"

"F-fan…girls...huff...found…us...barley….wheeze...e-escaped…" Naruto said through his ragged breaths. The other two just nodded in confirmation, both breathing too hard to speak.

Iruka laughed a little as he watched the three exhausted boys take their seats. Naruto and Sasuke actually following Jagaa to the furthest back part of the class. Naruto's head went strait to the desk, while the other two leaned back with their arms hanging limply at their sides as the three of them tried to catch their breath.

"Well no one else should show up for at least twenty minutes or so. So take it easy until then." Iruka said. He already knew they would, but he had to hide his enjoyment of their suffering somehow. Those three had put him through a lot over the years. He was still getting slight nose bleeds from the memory of their last triple attack with **Oiroke no Jutsu**.

True enough, around twenty minutes later the rest of the class began to file in through the entrance. As soon as the room had begun to fill, both Jagaa and Naruto had begun inching away from Sasuke, and all of them new why.

"SASUKE-KUN" came the loud shout as two blurs, one pink and red the other one blonde and purple, charged Sasuke at an incredible speed.

Sasuke however was ready this time. Making the seals quickly, he used the **Kawarimi**. Sakura and Ino were more than a little surprised to find they had just glomped a very confused Naruto.

"What the hell are you doing Sasuke-teme? Don't be making me take your glompings for you." Naruto yelled after he had finally figured out what had happed. Even if he _was_ secretly happy to have been glomped by Ino, he would never tell anyone.

"Don't talk like that to Sasuke-kun" Sakura yelled as she tried to hit Naruto, who promptly dodged out of the way.

"I'll talk to him however I want. I mean really, what sort of person would sacrifice his friend just to keep a couple girls from mauling him?" Naruto said indignantly.

Nobody noticed when Jagaa started twiddling his thumbs and whistling innocently as he stared out the window.

"Everybody settle down and take your seats." Iruka said loudly to the class.

The class quieted down instantly and Sakura and Ino, Sakura with a fair bit of grumbling, took their seats.

"I am now going to announce the teams. I want you all to remember that these teams were chosen by the Hokage himself and there will be _no changes_." Iruka said, emphasizing the last part. "These teams have been carefully balanced in order to obtain maximum effectiveness."

'_The class is not going to be happy about this._'

"I'll begin giving you your teams now. Team 1 will be………"

As Iruka went down the list, felt his anxiety rise with every name. When he finally reached team 7, he paused and took a deep breath.

"This next team is a bit unique. Due to an unexpected number of graduates we have been forced to make a single four person team."

'_Here it comes._'

"Team 7 will consist of; Yamanaka Ino, Uchiha Sasuke, Jagaa, and Uzumaki Naruto."

Silence filled the air for a moment as all of the names that were just said registered in each person's brain. Jagaa recovered the fastest and quickly covered his ears. He barely made it in time.

"**_NANI_**" The ridiculously loud yell filled the room. Every girl in the classroom, along with a fair number of guys, shouted in outrage at the team announcement.

"Why are those three on a team." One boy shouted.

"I wanted to be on Sasuke/Jagaa/Naruto-kun's team." Was the shout of every girl.

"How is that balanced?" A few other boys shouted.

This continued for about a full minute before Iruka had enough.

"All of you **Quiet Down Now**." He yelled at the top of his voice, and being a teacher, that was pretty loud.

The whole room grudgingly silenced. Nara Shikamaru took that as his opportunity to raise his hand.

"Sensei, you said yourself that the teams were balanced, but I don't see how that is true. Sasuke is the top rookie of the year, and Ino is the top female of the year. Then you put Jagaa in who is in the top five, and even Naruto who has managed to get to the top ten. It seems like the team is pretty stacked. Not to mention there are four of them, not just three."

"You are correct on your assessment Shikamaru, but like I said there is a very good reason for this. All the Jounin-sensei's have been informed of the reason, and have been permitted to tell you themselves it they choose to. I however, was told by the Hokage personally, not to tell you as a class."

Shikamaru leaned back in his seat and let off an audible "Troublesome" as he did.

"Now if you will all let me finish the telling you your teams. Team 8 will have; Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino. Team 9 will be……"

Ino was still reeling over the fact that she was in the same group as all three of the most desired boys of her year. She would be ecstatic, and definitely rubbing it in Sakura's face, if it were not for the steady stream of killing intent that seemed to be coming from all around her. Ino knew that the rest of the girls were not happy in the least that she managed to get all three of them in her group.

"Finally group 10 will consist of; Haruno Sakura, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chouji. That is all for the groups, now you will simply have to wait until your Jounin-sensei gets here.

Iruka then left the class room to go inform the Jounin that were already present that they could pick up their students. Ino could feel every girl's eyes on her, and it was really making her nervous. She almost attacked when she felt a hand gently touch her shoulder. Almost fearfully she looked up to see a pair of deep cerulean eyes looking into hers.

"You want to come over and sit with us Ino-chan." Naruto said in a whisper. "It might be safer for you." He looked around pointedly at all the angry stares she was receiving.

Considering the killing intent directed at her had not gone down in the slightest. Ino rather quickly agreed.

X X X X X

"Where ishe?" Naruto said in annoyance. He wanted to start yelling, but considering Jagaa had fallen asleep a while ago he was trying very hard not to. Naruto didn't feel like being thrown through a closed window again like the last time he had woken Jagaa up because he was yelling. Yes Jagaa could be grouchy when he first woke up.

Having been waiting so long had made Naruto decided that their late new sensei needed a bit of punishing. Grabbing an eraser off the chalk board he began to place it between the door and the door jam.

"Naruto what are you doing?" Ino asked as she watched Naruto at work.

"I'm teaching our new sensei that it isn't polite to keep people waiting." He said as he stepped back to observe his work.

"Baka, that will never work. Our new sensei is a Jounin. He wouldn't fall for a simple trap like that."

"She's right Naruto." Sasuke said from behind them.

Ino turned to thank Sasuke for agreeing with her, but she never got the words out as Sasuke had continued.

"Were going to need more than an eraser, lets see what else we have to work with."

Ino fell flat on her face.

The two boys were about to start scouring the area for anything they could use to add to the trap, when the door suddenly started to open. The three who were awake looked just in time to see the eraser fall on a head of silver hair.

"Holy shit it worked." Ino said out loud.

The man in the doorway was wearing the standard Jounin vest and shinobi clothing. He wore a mask that covered the bottom half of his face, and his haiti-ate was pulled down over his left eye.

He also still had the eraser on top of his head.

"Well how should I put this", the man said as he looked them over. "I guess it would be, 'I hate you'."

All three of them sweat dropped at the comment.

"I want the four of you," He glanced at Jagaa, "on the roof in five minutes." With that he disappeared.

Naruto looked at Jagaa, and then at Sasuke.

"It's your turn to wake him up." Naruto said matter of factly.

X X X X X

The four of them stood watching their new masked sensei sitting on the rail of the roof reading some little orange book and giggling. They stood there for a good minute before Sasuke finally got the silver haired Jounin's attention by loudly clearing his throat.

"Well now that you are all here, why don't we get to know each other, let's hear your likes, dislikes, dreams, hobbies you know that sort of thing." The Jounin said putting his book away and acting completely unconcerned that he had made them wait yet again.

"Why don't you go first sensei, we all pretty much know each other, but none of us know anything about you." Ino said.

"Ok then. My name is Hatake Kakashi, and that's about all I plan on telling you."

Ino, Sasuke, and Naruto sweat dropped. Jagaa just yawned.

'_All we got was his name._' They all thought at the same time.

"Well, why don't you go first blo…" Kakashi was about to say blondie, when he realized there were three of them, just with varying degrees of blonde. "Uh, you." He finished pointing at Ino.

"My Name is Yamanaka Ino. My likes are working in my families flower shop, shopping, and showing Sakura I am better than her at everything. My dislikes are people who think a flower shop girl can't be a ninja, annoying customers, and the very thought of Sakura doing better than me at anything. My hobbies are flower arranging and pissing off Sakura. My dream is to be a great Kunoichi and one day take over the family shop."

'_You just got to love those rivalry things don't you._' Kakashi thought. "Alright it's your turn." He said and nodded to Naruto.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, my brother, ramen, my best friend Sasuke, Ramen, gardening, and Ramen. I don't like the three minute wait for my ramen to heat up, and when my brother kicks the crap out of me for being to noisy. My hobbies are training and gardening. My dream is to be the Hokage and to make all the villagers acknowledge my existence."

'_Well he has certainly developed in an interesting way._' "Ok, it's your turn."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. My likes are my friends Jagaa and Naruto, training, and sometimes pulling pranks with Naruto. I don't like people who judge someone without even knowing them, or people who pity me. My hobbies are training, and reading. My dream is to restore my clan and get strong enough to protect those I care about from a certain man. I also wouldn't mind killing that certain man." Sasuke looked at Jagaa for some reason after he finished. Jagaa just shrugged.

'_It looks like Naruto and Jagaa have had a positive effect on him, even if he does still want to kill Itachi. At least he's not obsessed._' "And finally mister walking shadow over there. By the way I like your haiti-ate."

Jagaa gave Kakashi a quick grin before answering. "My name is Jagaa, just Jagaa. My likes would be my brother Naruto, my friend Sasuke, training, and Chinese food. My dislikes I would rather not get into. My hobbies are training, reading, and keeping Naruto in line. I have a few dreams, but the only one I will say is that I want to regain my lost memories."

'_Hmm, I wonder if he will be like I was warned, I guess I'll find out later._' Kakashi mused as he remembered all the warnings he got about Jagaa. "Well I guess that about does it for the introductions. So are their any questions you have before I let you go."

"Only the obvious one." Sasuke said. "Why were we all put together on the same team? Shikamaru was right when he said that our team seemed pretty stacked."

"I figured that would be the question. Well the answer is sitting right next to you." He pointed at Jagaa as if to emphasize.

"Huh, how the hell am I the answer."

"Sasuke may be the top rookie of the year, but that is only because he is skilled in all aspects of the academy training. You however, and I am sure Sasuke will agree, beat him hands down when it comes to taijutsu and kenjutsu. Even though your skills with ninjutsu are average and your genjutsu is sub par. Your skills in those first two areas are exceptional for a Genin, and you are obviously a front line fighter. The problem is that if you were put on a team with standard Genin and ended up in a fight, they would not be able to support you properly. They just wouldn't be able to keep up, and it would most likely get you all killed. To compensate for that, you were placed with the two overall best rookies of this year. Sasuke and Ino, they are the only ones who will be skilled enough to give you the proper support you would need and be able to fight with you."

"Oh Kay, I guess that makes sense. Jagaa does destroy me when we use strait taijutsu and I can't back it up with ninjutsu, but no were in there did you say why Naruto is on the team as well." Sasuke asked after Kakashi finished explaining.

'_Looks like its time to test some of that info on Jagaa._' Kakashi mused.

"Well since Naruto graduated late, he had not been put on a team before they were all formed. Since we didn't want to mess up any balance that we had managed to get, it was decided to just put him on the same team as his brother." Kakashi answered casually. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jagaa look at him, and was sure Jagaa's eyes had narrowed on him. '_Well that proves that. I will have to start choosing my words more carefully from now on._'

Naruto was muttering under his breath when Kakashi focused on all of them again. He couldn't hear what Naruto was saying, but he had a pretty good idea. The boy was not pleased about being called a tag on.

"Since that seems to be it for the questions lets call it a day shall we. Meet me at training ground 7 tomorrow at 5 a.m." Kakashi turned his back on them and pulled out his book as he got ready t to leave and then stopped suddenly. "Oh yeah, don't eat breakfast before you come." He said turning his head to face them.

"Why?" Ino asked.

"Because you'll throw up." Kakashi watched the reactions of the four Genin. Ino, Sasuke and Naruto had reacted in fear just as expected, but Jagaa just raised an eyebrow at him.

'_That is definitely one hell of an ability. It's almost frightening. He'll probably even ruin my test._' He thought as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

X X X X X

About 4:45 a.m. the next morning, a very tired Ino was arriving at training area 7. She realized that she was the only one there already and sleepily sat down, leaning against a nearby tree. Just as she was about to dose off, she heard the sound of people coming. Forcing her heavy eyelids open she watched Naruto and Sasuke came walking up to her. Ino couldn't help but smile as the pair got closer.

Naruto was walking with his eyes closed, while firmly holding on to the back of Sasuke's shirt and letting him guide them to their destination. She also noticed that not only did Sasuke not seem to mind he also appeared to be guiding them around any bumps or holes that might trip Naruto up.

Ino found the sight to be adorable.

"So where is Jagaa?" Ino asked as she watched Sasuke gently help Naruto lay down in the grass. Ino had to resist the urge to say 'ahhh' as she watched.

"Said he had to get something and left a while before we did. He said he would meet us here." The black haired boy responded quietly.

Ino watched as Sasuke seemed to make sure Naruto was comfortable. She couldn't resist it was just so cute. Apparently though, Sasuke noticed her watching because he looked at her with slightly hard eyes. "What?" He asked in a rather defensive voice.

"I was just thinking about you and Naruto." Ino said honestly. "There was once a time that you didn't want anything to do with anyone, especially him. Now here you are, acting for all the world like a protective brother. I just think its incredible how people can change."

Sasuke's look softened considerably. He then looked at Naruto's sleeping form again, and a gentle smile came to his face. "I don't think it is so much how people change, as it is how Naruto can change people. I hate to think of what I would be like now if it were not for him. Jagaa may have been the first to approach me, but it was Naruto who saved me."

Ino was just about to ask him what he meant by that last part, when they both heard the sound of footsteps coming through the forest. Looking in the direction of the noise, they were rewarded with the sight of Jagaa coming out of the woods holding several shopping bags.

"Sorry it took so long for me to get here. It took forever to find a store that was actually open." Jagaa then sat on the ground next to them and began to remove his purchase from the bags. Which turned out to be store bout breakfasts and some bowls of pre warmed ramen.

"Well dig in." Jagaa said as he popped the lid off of one of the ramen bowls.

"What are you talking about, we were told not to eat or we would throw up." Ino almost shouted at Jagaa, who even in the dark was still wearing his sunglasses.

"Don't worry about it. Its true that he didn't want us to eat, but it wasn't because he was afraid we would throw up." Jagaa said as he began wafting the smell of ramen under Naruto's nose. Naruto was awake instantly and grabbed the bowl from his brother's hand.

"Then why doesn't he want us to eat?"

"I don't know the real reason; I just know that it wasn't because of us throwing up. Besides, if he is anything like yesterday, we still have almost two hours to digest before he even shows up." Jagaa said, this time grabbing a store breakfast for himself

"Trust him on this Ino. His hunches are usually right on the money." Sasuke said as he opened his own breakfast.

Naruto was to busy slurping down noodles to say anything. So he just nodded.

X X X X X

"YOU'RE LATE" both Ino and Naruto shouted together when Kakashi finally arrived.

"Sorry, sorry, you see this black cat tried to cross my path so I had to take a detour around…."

"LIAR" They both screamed again. While Jagaa and Sasuke just shook their heads.

"Weelll, why don't we get started then seeing as we have everyone here now. The purpose of the test is this." Kakashi then held up three bells.

"What are those for?" Ino asked.

"Your objective is to take these bells from me. If you can get a bell before the time limit runs out you pass."

"But there are only three bells and four of us." Naruto said with a slightly confused look.

"Yep, that means one of you won't be getting a bell doesn't it."

"If you don't get a bell, does that mean you fail." Sasuke asked. Kakashi just smiled, closing his visible eye, making sure not to give an actual response.

"What happens if we fail?" Naruto asked in a worried voice.

"You will be sent back to the academy."

All four teens were speechless at this news.

"On top of that, if you don't manage to get a bell, I will tie you to those posts over there and make you watch as I eat lunch in front of you." Kakashi said, waiting to see there reaction.

"So that's why you didn't want us to eat?" Ino said in understanding.

"I told you it was a good idea to trust Jagaa's hunch on that. I bet your glad you listened." Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Could someone tell me what is going on." Kakashi said in a slightly confused voice, though he was pretty sure he had an idea what happened.

"I brought some breakfast for everyone this morning, so we all already ate." Jagaa said.

"So now that that is no longer an issue, I guess we can focus on getting the bells." Sasuke smirked.

'_Cheaters, I knew Jagaa would ruin my test._' Kakashi thought sullenly. "Well I guess now we find out if you go back to the academy or not. You have until the alarm goes off." He saw all four get into ready stances. "And, START."

X X X X X

Ino was just about to jump into the trees when she noticed that her three teammates had made attempt to move from their spots. She quickly stopped her jump to find out what was going on.

"So what do you think?" Sasuke asked and looked at Jagaa.

"I'd say alone we don't stand a chance. If we want to get those bells, all of us are going to have to work together."

"But there are only three of them." Ino said in worry, "Even if we do get them how are we supposed to decide who goes and who stays."

"That's easy, I'll go." The other three looked at him in surprise. "Hey don't count me out just yet though. I may have an idea that will let us all pass, but like I said, it will take all of us to pull it off. You guys in?"

"Of course," Naruto said. While the Sasuke and Ino nodded their heads. "There is something that I think you should know, but I'll tell you after we hear the plan." Naruto added.

"All right then here's what we do." Jagaa said, and began outlining his Idea.

X X X X X

Kakashi watched with mild curiosity as the four young Genin whispered together in a huddle. '_Well it seems they are going to pass the teamwork part easily enough. I wonder how effective it will be though._'

Kakashi did not have to wait much longer to find out though, because at that time the four Genin broke from their huddle and got into ready stances.

"Every one knows what to do?" Jagaa asked his teammates.

"Roger", the other three said in unison.

"Lets do this." Naruto yelled. At that moment both he and Jagaa charged strait at Kakashi while Sasuke and Ino disappeared into the trees.

'_Two to attack directly and two to provide support, not a bad idea._' Kakashi though, impressed that they had worked out a sound strategy.

Jagaa was the first to attack. Kakashi had heard all about how good he was with a sword for a genin, but he was still surprised to see just how fast Jagaa could draw it from his back. Kakashi barely dodged to the left before the sword slashed vertically down where he had just been standing. Before Kakashi could try to counter attack, he was forced to dodge the shuriken that Naruto had thrown as cover. Jagaa quickly spun towards Kakashi and sent an upward diagonal slash to Kakashi's torso. Kakashi once again moved over to dodge the attack but was almost caught by the kick that had been thrown directly after it. Kakashi caught the kick with his left arm and went to strike Jagaa, when he realized the sword had moved to Jagaa's left hand as was coming in high from a back had swing.

Kakashi pulled out a kunai just in time to block the sword that had been coming at his neck. He saw an opening for a strike to Jagaa's stomach but didn't get a chance to take it because of the several kunai that had just been launched at him from the trees. He jumped back away from Jagaa and the kunai only to have to block a kick to his stomach by Naruto. Kakashi delivered a strong blow to Naruto's head, but as soon as he struck Naruto disappeared with a pop and a puff of smoke.

'_**Kage Bunshin**, I forgot I was told he could use that._' Kakashi's thoughts were cut short when he realized there was a rain of kunai and shuriken coming at him from all directions. Using a quick** Kawarimi **Kakashi escaped the rain of weapons and hid in a tree. Using the bit of a time out he had made for himself he analyzed the way the four were attacking him.

'_They're much better than I thought they would be. The way they cover each other is almost perfect. The two doing the frontal assault watch each others backs and also count on the support of their two hidden comrades. Jagaa is just as good as I have been told but the way he was fighting seemed a little off, I'll look into that later. At first I thought Jagaa would be my main concern in the frontal assault, but Naruto knowing how to use **Kage Bunshin** is actually making him the more worrisome one._' Kakashi looked out at Naruto and Jagaa who were watching their surroundings carefully and waiting for him to reappear. Kakashi suddenly had an idea. '_If I take Jagaa as a hostage, Naruto will stop fighting. Then I can take knock them both out for a while and focus on Sasuke and Ino._' Kakashi crouched down on the branch preparing to put his plan in motion.

It worked perfectly. Jumping from the tree, Kakashi sprinted strait passed Naruto and headed for Jagaa. Jagaa tried to bring up his sword to stop him but surprise was on Kakashi's side. He ducked the sword and got quickly got behind Jagaa, putting a kunai to his throat.

That however is when it fell apart on him.

"Now Sasuke!" Jagaa yelled suddenly. Kakashi heard the rustle of leaves and looked behind him to see Sasuke jumping out of the trees and forming seals.

'_No way, he shouldn't have enough chakara for that technique. Not to mention I still have…._' It was about then that the Jagaa he was holding turned into Naruto and then popped out of existence. '_**Kage Bunshin** and **Henge** when did they..._' He didn't have time to think about it anymore.

"**Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu**" Sasuke yelled as he launched a huge fire ball. The fire hit exactly were Kakashi was standing, leaving a good sized crater in the ground.

Kakashi took his chance to try to take Sasuke out of action. He reached up from the ground he had retreated to and grabbed Sasuke's leg. "**Doton: Shinjuuzanshu no Jutsu**" He called out as he pulled Sasuke up to his neck into the ground.

Coming out of the ground Kakashi looked down at Sasuke's face. '_Well that's one down._'

Or so he thought.

A pop and a puff of smoke later Kakashi could only think one thing. '_You gotta be fucking kidding me, they got me with that twice._'

Suddenly the bushes that were around him turned into four Narutos, two of which quickly grabbed his legs and the other two his arms.

"Do it." The four Narutos shouted at once. Kakashi then saw Ino, Sasuke, Jagaa and the real Naruto spring from the remaining bushes and come at him from all sides. No one attacked him though; they just passed him forming a sort of box around his body before they all continued dashing by.

'_Well I'll be it looks like they got me._' Kakashi had figured out that the four of them moving like that had not been to land a blow, it was only to make sure that if he managed to move in any direction someone would have a chance to grab the bells. And it had worked flawlessly.

The clones holding Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke, allowing him to turn and look at his team. For some reason Jagaa was on the other side of him away from the three who stood holding the bells. He knew that they had won, but he wanted to test one more thing. "Well now that you all managed to get the bells how are you going to decide who gets to stay and who will go." '_Let's see who is willing to sacrifice themselves_.'

"Well you see Kakashi-sensei. We decided that if getting the _bells_ from you was enough to pass. Then getting something else from you should be to." Naruto said with a huge grin on his face.

Kakashi did not like the sound of that. "What else could you have………" He suddenly gasped and reached into his weapons case searching for his most treasured possession. He almost cried when he realized it wasn't there. "Where is it?" He said in a dangerous voice. The three in front of him gulped and pointed behind him. Turning to look at the now about to die Jagaa, he was stopped dead in his tracks at the sight before him.

There was Jagaa, flipping casually through the pages of his 'Icha Icha Paradise'. Suddenly Jagaa stopped, his eyebrows rising high over his sunglasses. Then slowly he turned the book sideways and tilted his head with it, his mouth forming an 'ooohh' as he examined the page.

After recovering from seeing his precious book being so casually looked over by the teen, Kakashi spoke. "Would you mind giving that back to me." It was definitely not a question.

"Will you pass us all if I do?" Jagaa said in a calm tone, completely unfazed by the killing aura that was coming off Kakashi.

"Why should I do that?"

"To be honest I wouldn't care in the least if you didn't pass me. The problem stems from the fact that it wouldn't be just me that wouldn't pass."

"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked, the unexpected response serving to calm him down considerably.

"Ask them." Jagaa said as he pointed to his teammates.

Kakashi turned to the remaining three and raised his eyebrow questioningly.

"Jagaa said he didn't mind if he was the one who failed." Ino said.

"So when he told us his plan, we all decided something, and not even he can change our minds on this." Sasuke said.

"We decided that if his taking your book was not enough to pass. Then we would give you back the bells and fail with him." Naruto said with in a strong voice.

Kakashi was shocked when he heard the proud declaration, but he did manage to get out the question that would make his final decision for him.

"Why would you quit just because one of your friends couldn't make it with you. Don't you think that they would prefer that you succeed even if they didn't? What if it was a mission and the only way to successfully complete it was to leave a comrade behind?"

"If completing the mission meant I had to sacrifice a member of my team, then the mission can go to hell for all I care. My teammates are way more important and I will not leave them behind." Naruto said with all the conviction he had. Beside him both Sasuke and Ino nodded in agreement, their faces serious.

Kakashi looked the three of them over then he looked back at Jagaa who gave him a slight nod. Kakashi was feeling rather proud of his four new students as he started walking towards a black rock that stood in the grounds that they were training in.

"A very wise person once told me. 'Those who don't follow the rules are considered trash, but those who don't care about their friends are worse than trash.' You all truly understand that don't you." Kakashi looked over at them and his eye closed from his warm smile. "You all pass. As of tomorrow we begin doing missions as team 7."

As Sasuke, Ino, and most especially Naruto began cheering. Jagaa walked up to Kakashi and handed him his book. Before Jagaa could leave Kakashi asked him the question that had been begging to be asked. "How much were you holding back in this?"

"What makes you think I was holding back sensei?"

"The way you were fighting just seemed a little off. As if you were forcing yourself to do something. Or maybe _not_ do something."

"I was coming at you with all the speed and strength I had, on that I can guarantee you. Now if you'll excuse me. I'm going to go celebrate with my team." Jagaa walked away quickly in order to catch up to his teammates, leaving Kakashi to stare after them.

The new genins of Team 7 left the training grounds together, Naruto of course screaming about getting ramen which got him a punch to the head from both Jagaa and Ino.

X X X X X

"So what do you think of them?" a voice came from behind Kakashi.

Kakashi turned to see the ANBU who had just asked him the question. The man was wearing an eagle mask. "They make a great team. I have a feeling they will go far."

"What do you think of _him_?"

"He is better than your average genin that's true, but if he was really giving it his all as far as speed and power goes, I wasn't as impressed as I thought I'd be. I'm not sure why you all act so nervous about him, there wasn't even a shred of that intense killing intent you told me about either."

"It's because that _isn't _how he usually fights. He was holding back because the other three were there. He also didn't actually want to kill you so of course he wouldn't give off killing intent. There's also the fact that if he had, the other three would have been immobilized by it."

"I thought the sword coming at my neck was proof that he was indeed trying to kill me. Besides he told me himself that he wasn't holding back, and the Hokage, hell even you told me that Jagaa has never lied once since he came here."

"It's true; Jagaa will not lie to anyone, but that doesn't mean he can't use partial truth to give you the wrong idea. So as far as his speed and power goes, you're right he wasn't holding back in the least. That won't change if he goes all out, but how he fights _will_. As for the sword going to your neck, there is a big difference between actually trying to kill someone, and just not caring if you do."

"I guess that makes sense. Still though, if his overall strength stays the same how will he be any more dangerous?" Kakashi said.

"You'll see Kakashi, you'll see. Then even you might start to sweat."

A/N: This was my first fight scene so I hope it wasn't too bad. I had wanted to try to mix up the other teams a little as well, but I just couldn't find any other combinations I could really work with. I also hope my reasons for putting a bunch of hard hitters on the same team were at least good enough to be acceptable. Any way, please review so I know if it's going well so far or not.


	4. Siblings, Meetings, and Missions

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Nor do I own myself, I am government property. (Realizing his life sucks the author sits in a corner and cries)

Chapter 4: Siblings, Meetings, and Missions.

Ino sat behind the counter of her family's flower shop drumming her fingers and looking out the window. There had not single customer all day, and needless to say she was getting really bored.

"My first day off in two weeks, and my mother just has to have me watch the store while she goes shopping. Thanks a lot mom, I hope you feel bad when I die of boredom." Ino let out a sigh and started to let her mind wander.

Eventually her thoughts came around to her team, or to be more specific, to the boys on her team.

First up, came her first and overall current crush, Uchiha Sasuke. Sasuke was so much different from how he used to be it was amazing. She could remember the time all he did was respond in grunts and one to two word answers to any question asked him. He didn't try to get to know anybody or let anybody know him. Just an overall cool and lone wolf type guy. Now he laughed and smiled, joked and pulled pranks. He talked to people who addressed him, and even started conversations with some of the clients. Sometimes Ino wondered if someone had not mastered a personality reversing jutsu and used it on him.

Those thoughts of course brought her back to the morning of the test two weeks ago. She could still see the softness in his eyes and the care and concern he had been showing Naruto. Then the last part of his words would echo through her head again.

'_It was Naruto who saved me_'.

What could he mean by that? She wasn't quite sure. She had been meaning to ask him about it since then but she always seemed to get sidetracked. Maybe she should try asking Naruto about it. He would probably know.

That of course turned her thoughts over to the prior mentioned boy. Naruto was, well, he was Naruto. He tended to be too loud and sometimes obnoxious, though that had gone down considerably since Jagaa came on the scene. He was obsessed with ramen and training, and tended to not think things through before he said or did them. But he was also so kind and caring and overall so innocent and loving that it seemed to make all his faults seem small in comparison. He went out of his way to help people and he absolutely could not stand to see a girl or child cry.

Then of course there were his beautiful deep blue eye's that she could get lost in for hours. His bright blonde hair that could make the sun jealous with its golden shine. Those strange, whisker like, birthmarks on his face that practical begged her fingers to trace them along his face. His bright, beautiful smile that always seemed to make her feel good no matter how down she was feeling. The cute way he would scratch the back of his head was just so….'_Ahh, I'm doing it again._'

Ino shook her head quickly trying to clear away those kinds of thoughts about Naruto. She had convinced herself a while ago that she only thought of Naruto as a friend. A kind, caring friend that she only really knew because he had gotten into gardening and started coming to her family shop, that's all. She still had a crush on Sasuke after all. Even if she was half sure that she only kept it up to piss off Sakura. But sometimes she wondered if that was all she felt. Naruto was just so sweet and caring that it was hard not to like him.

'_So why do the villagers look at him like that_.'

No matter how nice the thoughts she may be havening about Naruto were at any given time, that question always seemed to find its way into Ino's mind.

It took her about a week to notice, but notice she had. Whenever they would be walking together down crowded streets she would catch glares and spite filled looks that would be directed at Naruto. Ino couldn't understand what he may have done to get those kinds of looks. Yes he used to pull a lot of pranks but that was no reason to hate someone. Hell even Sasuke had started to join in the pranks after he had befriended Naruto, but the glares only ever went to Naruto. Ino just couldn't understand it.

Forcing her thoughts away from Naruto and the glares he received brought her to the last boy on her team, Jagaa.

Jagaa was a walking enigma in him self.

Coming from a family who use mind jutsus, Ino had learned a great deal on the human psychology and behavior patterns, but Jagaa was still throwing her for loops. At first glance you would see an open, friendly boy who enjoys spending time with his brother and friends. In fact Ino was sure if it weren't for her training in observing people she would see just that as well. But she was trained, so she saw more.

Despite his open and friendly attitude, Jagaa seemed to emit a kind of aura that said it was a good idea to stay away from him. It wasn't clearly visible like, being rude or introverted, or telling people to back off. It was small things he did that brought it to light for Ino.

The first thing she noticed was that Jagaa did all he could to keep people from getting behind him. If someone did manage to get that there she could see his hands move closer to either his sword or his shuriken pouch. To the casual observer it would seem he was just scratching his neck or side, but Ino remembered what had happened on the Jagaa's first day of class when that boy had touched Jagaa's back. Ino knew it was not a coincidence that his hands moved to his weapons, but she didn't know why.

He was also alert. It was as if he was always aware of what was going on around him at any given time. He didn't look around a lot or anything like that; he just always seemed to know.

As to his past, Ino knew exactly what everyone else knew. Jagaa had no memories of his life past seven or so years ago, and he had only been in Konoha for around four. It was those three or so years before he came to Konoha that know one knew about. If you were to ask Jagaa, his usual response was to either skillfully change the subject or just plainly state that he would rather not talk about it.

Ino had decided to ask her father about it one day, making sure to not to tell him just who she was observing acting that way. His response shocked her to say the least.

///Flashback///

"_Hey daddy, can you help me with something" Ino called out as she walked into her house._

"_Sure princess, what do you need help with?"_

"_Well, there's this guy I know and he seems really nice. But the way he acts is kind of strange and I can't figure out what it could be."_

"_What do you mean? What does he do that's so strange?"_

"_Well, for one he never lets anyone get behind him if he can help it, and when someone does he tends to reach for his weapons. He also always seems to be on alert; he just seems to know what's happening around him at all times, like he expects to be attacked or something. And if you ask him anything about his past he'll either find away to change the subject or just not answer at all. I just can't figure it out."_

"_Hmm, it sounds like this guy was most likely a front line fighter during the great shinobi war. If he acts like that I would say he was probably involved in high risk missions that carried a constant threat of death. ANBU special Ops maybe. I'm surprised you met a guy like that, most of them couldn't handle city life anymore and had to move into the forest area."_

"_But that's impossible." Ino almost screamed. Then realizing her outburst she tried to cover it. "I mean, he isn't that old so I don't think that could be it."_

"_Well then I don't have any answers that could explain it. Your description of the guy sounds like a war veteran, so I don't know what else it could be. Maybe if you tell me his name I can try to look up his file or something."_

"_No, no that's okay daddy." Ino was still a bit shocked that one of her teammates was acting like a hardened war veteran, but she didn't want to pry into his life when he obviously didn't want people to. "It's not really important I was just curious."_

_But inside her mind the questions just kept coming, and with them there was one that was the loudest. '_Jagaa, just who are you, and what kind of life have you had?_'_

///Flashback End///

The news at first had made Ino almost afraid of her older teammate, but as the time passed, so did her anxiety. Jagaa may have the symptoms of a war veteran, but he was also a great person. The way he treated her was exactly like he treated Naruto. He acted like he was her older brother. Yesterday she even accidentally called him Nii-san just like Naruto did, but considering the circumstances she felt it was justified.

///Flashback///

_The four of them were walking with each other on their way home after finishing there missions for the day, and were chatting happily about how they were good enough to do two to three missions a day, when most teams only did one._

_As they were nearing the path that would force them to take different routes, a group of about six boys around the same age as them came walking by._

"_Hey baby, why don't you come have a good time with us." One of them called to Ino._

"_Oh yeah, you definitely look like the type who knows how to give a guy some fun." Another said as he leered at her._

"_I think we….." That was as far as it got before a fist to his face shut him up._

_Jagaa was on the boys faster than they could react, not that it would have done much good. Jagaa was merciless._

_After punching the one who was about to say something, he grabbed him by his head and slammed him face first into the ground. Grabbing whoever was closest, Jagaa kicked him in the back of the legs sending the boy to his knees, and then slammed his elbow into the top of his head knocking the kid out cold._

_The other four recovered enough by then to try to counter attack by rushing Jagaa from all sides. Jumping up Jagaa used one of them as leverage to slam his foot into another ones face, sending him backwards with enough force to put a hole in the fence he hit. At the same time Jagaa threw the boys head he was gripping forward causing him to smash his forehead into the forehead of the boy coming at him from the other direction. Both boys fell down unconscious with blood flowing down their face._

_The last boy seeing how quickly his friends had been taken out turned to run in order to save himself. Before he could get ten feet there was a shuriken embedded into the back of his left thigh, causing him to fall to the ground. Jagaa calmly walked over and grabbed him by the collar and proceeded to drag the whimpering boy over to where the others stood._

_Ino noticed that it was the same boy who had basically said she looked like a slut._

"_Well as it stands, your buddies over there will most likely recover without to much damage, you on the other hand may not. You made a very rude comment to my teammate and she may have taken offence. So I'm gonna let _her _decide _your_ fate." Jagaa then looked up at Ino. "It's up to you, say the word and I'll put him in the hospital if you want."_

_Ino was looking at the boy on his knees, who had already wet himself by the way, and weighing her options; in the end she decided take pity on the boy, believing that he probably learned his lesson. Besides that shuriken had to hurt like hell._

"_Just let him go Jagaa, I don't think he'll be making that mistake again." Ino said in a stern voice._

_Jagaa just shrugged and did as she asked. Of course his idea of 'let him go' involve throwing him another ten feet down the road and head first into a post. _

"_I guess that will teach him to watch his mouth when there's someone with big brother instincts around." Sasuke said with smirk._

"_No kidding, the guy was lucky Nii-san let Ino decide or he may have never walked again." Naruto said with a shutter._

_Okay so Ino had just heard them talking about brothers and Naruto call him Nii-san. Of course she would slip up right. Walking over to were Jagaa was standing she thanked him._

"_Thank you for defending me Nii-san." She said without even realizing what she called him._

_Jagaa looked slightly stunned for a moment, much to Ino's confusion, then got a warm smile on his face and put his hand on top of her head as he responded._

"_My pleasure imouto."_

///Flashback End///

DING

The sound of the front door opening brought Ino sharply back to reality. Recovering quickly she put her best business smile on and looked to were the customer was.

"How can I help you si... Naruto, what are you doing here I thought you were going to train with Sasuke?"

Naruto was standing in the entrance, scratching the back of his head apologetically. He was still wearing his normal pants sandals and haiti-ate. But today he also was wearing a white t-shirt with a red Konoha leaf on the front, instead of his usual dark blue hoodie. Ino thought it was a good look and was starting to go off on the same kind of thoughts she was having about him earlier, when he answered. "Well Sasuke said since we were getting the day off that he wanted the _day off_. So he went back to his house to relax and read one of his new books. I decided to go ahead and take it easy as well, so I came by to see about getting some new seeds to plant."

"So Sasuke went home to read and you came here. Where did Jagaa go?" Ino said.

Naruto suddenly got a mischievous smile on his face. "Well we got the day off because _Nii-san_ had to pick up his sword today remember." Naruto's eyes were sparkling with mirth.

Ino did not miss how Naruto had emphasized 'Nii-san' and almost fell over. "Th- th-that was just a slip okay. I mean he did defend my honor and act all, big brother like. And then with what you and Sasuke were saying afterwards…it wasn't my fault that I…" That was as far as her rambling got before Naruto held up his hand to stop her, with a huge smile on his face.

"Don't worry about it Ino, I don't mind sharing my brother. Besides I heard his response so I know he doesn't mind either." Ino looked like she was about to protest again, so Naruto continued. "Look Ino, Sasuke was right when he said Nii-san has big brother instincts. I'm sure you already noticed that's how he tends to treat us all right. Even Sasuke has almost called him Nii-san a couple times." Naruto paused before he finished. "Oh yeah, and now that he has called you imouto once already, he'll probably keep doing it so you may as well get used to it." Naruto's smile came back in full force when he saw Ino blush a little at the last part.

"That does raise an interesting question though." Naruto said rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "If you two start acting like siblings does that mean that we have to start acting like siblings?"

Ino laughed and told him that they would just keep it at friends, to which he quickly agreed was a good idea. In the back of her mind Ino was not pleased at the question.

'_Naruto better not start thinking of me like a sister or I may have to hurt him._'

X X X X X

"Kyougu, are you finished with my sword yet. I've felt naked for the last three days." Jagaa called out as he walked into the weapons shop.

"Oh Jagaa, your right on time, I actually finished about an hour ago." Kyougu had insisted that he and Jagaa be on first name basis when the teen had dropped off his sword three days ago. It was his way of showing Jagaa that he didn't care who he was and that he would treat him with respect.

"How is an hour after right on time?"

"Because I said smart ass," Yes they had also found that they were both natural banterers. "Now get over here and pay me, or you're not getting it back."

"So I take it you found out what the metal was that you couldn't place the first time I came here." Jagaa stated as he pulled out his money.

"Unfortunately, no I didn't. I put the shavings through every test I have but nothing came back. I am sending some that I have left to a friend of mine in the wave who has some more advanced tests he could run on it." As Kyougu explained his lack of results he had gone to the back and retrieved Jagaa's strait blade katana. He handed it to the boy, who took it with obvious relief crossing his face.

"You seem happy to have that back."

"It was the first time in at least seven years that it's been any more than arms length away from me. So yeah I was feeling a little edgy without it" Jagaa defensively.

"Well do you want to take it to the training area I have out back and give that new edge it has a test run?"

"Why not, it's not like I need to be anywhere."

X X X X X

The first thing Jagaa noticed was that the training area behind Kyougu's shop was covered in targets. The next thing he noticed was that every one of those targets had a mass amount of kunai, shuriken, and even senbon needles sticking out of them. The last thing he noticed was a girl with a pink Chinese top, dark green short pants and the strangest hairstyle he'd ever seen.

"Oh sorry, I didn't know you were practicing cupcake." Kyougu said apologetically.

Jagaa looked over at him with an eyebrow raised. "Cupcake?"

"I'll call my daughter whatever I want so you just keep the comments to yourself." He turned back to the girl in pink. "So I take it you don't have any missions today."

The girl looked back at her father to answer. She was cute that was sure, and he liked her brown eyes, but Jagaa was positive she would look much better with her hair down, and not in that mouse style she had going. "No, Gai-sensei gave us the day off, something about taking time to keep our _youthful_ spirits high." The girl finished.

"Well is it okay if I interrupt you're training for a little bit? I have a have a customer here who wants to try out the new edge on his sword." Kyougu said and nodded to Jagaa.

The girl walked over to where Kyougu and Jagaa were standing. She stopped about five feet in front of Jagaa and looked at him as if trying to size him up. "Never seen you before." She finally said.

"I guess that makes us even then."

"Is there a reason that you are wearing so much black?"

"Is there a reason your hair looks like mouse ears?"

The girl bristled noticeably, "I like it like this."

"Well I like wearing black."

Kyougu decided to step in before things got to out of hand. "Jagaa, this is my daughter Tenten. Tenten this is Jagaa. Anyway Jagaa, lets get to testing that edge of yours shall we."

"I have an idea," Tenten suddenly said. "Why don't you and I have a little spar? That way you can test your blade, and I can get in some training." Jagaa didn't even need his talent to see that her intentions were not that pure. Maybe it was the way she fingering a kunai she had while staring at him hard.

'_Must have been the 'mouse ears' comment_' Jagaa thought while giving her an impudent smile. "Why not, I could use the workout." With that said he put his hand on the hilt of his blade.

Kyougu had started backing up right about then.

Tenten took out one of her summoning scrolls and bit her thumb, dragging the blood across the paper she brought out a regular Katana. "To make it fair I'll use a sword as well. Do you have any problems with that?"

"Well that's not really gonna be very fair, but if that's how you want it I'll try to take it easy on you." Jagaa said very calmly.

Tenten did not take that well at all. Without a second thought she charged.

She tried a horizontal slash about shoulder high to his left side, just to have his sword block it. Dropping down she twisted her body and switch the sword to her right hand tried to go for his legs from the right side, just to have his blade block hers once again. Jumping back she readied herself for her next try. This time she zigzagged from left to right then acted like she was going for a downward slash to his shoulder, but at the last second she pulled back and ducked past his side to get behind him. Turning quickly she sent a strait thrust for the middle of his back. At the last second Jagaa simply turned his body and let the blade pass his body within less than and inch. Before she could even react to his dodge she realized she had a sword pressed against her neck.

Tenten had lost and she knew it. Letting her sword fall from her grasp she waited for him to start gloating.

"You're very good, but you advertise your movements a little too much, that's why I was able to get you so fast. Try to avoid that and you'll be set. Oh and don't take it to hard. My sword and shuriken are the only weapons I use so I practice with them all the time. Next time, how about you not limit yourself and fight how you are most comfortable just like I did."

Tenten would have turned to look at him incredulously, but his sword was still at her neck. Being complimented, critiqued, and reassured was not the reaction she was expecting. She suddenly felt her hair come out of their buns and fall down her back.

Jagaa walked around Tenten to look at her face again. He couldn't help but be affected by the difference letting her hair down had made. The way it brought out the chocolate brown in her eyes captivated him. It fell about midway down her back and had a look of softness about it that was almost demanding he run his fingers through it. He had thought she was cute before but now she was beautiful.

Pulling his sword away from her neck and putting it away, Jagaa gave her an appreciative smile, which actually made the girl blush.

"Quick to a fight, knows her way around a blade and is beautiful to boot, definitely my kind of girl." Jagaa said, giving her a mischievous smile, causing the girl to go even redder. "You should let your hair down more often. I mean you're cute with it up the way you had it. But your damn right beautiful with it down." With that Jagaa started walking to the door so he could leave through the shop.

"Thanks for the sharpening job Kyougu. I'll be sure to stop by next time I need some new weapons or work done on my sword." Jagaa said as he walked by the man. Without a backward glance he walked through the door.

Kyougu watched Jagaa leave then turned to look at his daughter.

Tenten, who was still blushing, was staring at the door Jagaa had just walked through with a look of confusion, anger, but most of all, wonder. Her hair was still falling loosely down her back and gently moving in the breeze. Seeing the look on her face, Kyougu's father instincts kicked in full force.

'_Oh no, not my baby girl_'

X X X X X

"Well that was sweet. Is our little Jagaa finally becoming interested in girls?"

"Shut it Barky, I don't want to hear it from you either Mutt." Jagaa said to the two black haired men walking beside him.

Jagaa hadn't managed to get more than fifty feet outside the door of Kyougu's shop before the last two ANBU from the four man team that watched him made their appearance in a henge. Normally both of them wore dog masks, hence Mutt and Barky.

"Oh come on, you said your self she was your type of girl, which also means that you were being completely honest about it. You can't blame us for being a little happy to see you take an interest." Mutt said.

"Yeah, I mean you always run from your fan girls so we were starting to worry." Barky kept up his banter with a huge smile.

"I said shut up. Don't you have anything better to do than follow me around?" Jagaa's irritation was clearly evident.

Both men smiled brightly again. "Well we were told to make sure that you didn't intend to do anything more permanent to those boys who disrespected you _imouto_."

Jagaa stopped dead in his tracks, turning to look at the two black haired men who were still grinning hugely. "Who saw it?"

"Why Kitten of course, and I do believe she has already started spreading the information of what happened to the general public. She is rather keen on making you seem less like the killing machine that everybody thinks you are." Barky answered.

Mutt took over from their. "Don't forget about what we just saw. Kittens going to have a field day with this news, she may even try to arrange a date for the two of you."

Jagaa's hand began to move up to the hilt of his sword.

"Sorry Jagaa, I'd like to say 'just kidding', but I would be lying so you would know anyway. It's our job to report anything you do that involves fighting. Whether a simple spar or a killing spree, we have to report it."

Jagaa let his hand fall away in defeat. Even if he actually did want to hurt them, it's not like he actually could. He was about to glare at the two men in front of him when it happened again.

The two who were currently in a **Henge** to look like two black haired men, suddenly changed into two men with brown hair, black slit eyes, and red markings on their face. "Inuzuka?" he said out loud. The weirdest part was that unlike previous times, instead of flashing back to the original thing he saw, the two were sort of overlaid. So he saw both the black haired men and the Inuzuka men.

The two in front of him were looking at him with shock. "What did you just say?" Barky asked in a low voice.

"The two of you suddenly looked like you were from the Inuzuka clan. In fact you still kind of do." Jagaa said in confusion.

Both men looked at each other with unreadable expressions then nodded. Turning back to Jagaa, Mutt gave a quick farewell, and then both men disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Jagaa stared at the spot they had just been standing in for a minute before walking away in confusion.

"Well that was weird," he thought out loud. "The way they reacted you would almost think I…" His eyes widened behind his sunglasses as realization hit him. '_No fucking way!! _'

X X X X X

One week later

"No way, not happening, pick something better Ojii-san." Naruto yelled at the Hokage.

Kakashi looked at the loudmouth Naruto pretty much certain he was going to get him in trouble.

"Naruto, how many times must we go over this? As Genin you have to do D ranked missions in order to build up experience. You can't just jump into the higher ranked missions." The Hokage said yet again to the very impatient Naruto.

"He's right Naruto," Ino stepped in. "We've only been Genin for a three weeks we can't expect to be handed important missions so soon."

"I have to agree with Naruto on this." Sasuke said from the side. "It may have only been three weeks, but we've done more missions than most Genin do in months. For one we have one more person than the average team. Then you throw Naruto's **Kage Bunshin** on top of that, and we practically fly through them."

"Hmm, I suppose you bring up a valid point, but why don't we get the opinion of the last member of your team." The Hokage looked at pointedly at Jagaa.

Jagaa seemed to fall into some kind of internal debate for a minute. Finally he sighed and answered. "I fail to see how walking dogs, picking up trash, pulling weeds, and chasing down runaway cats is supposed to prepare you for life as a ninja." Jagaa said.

"Well you have all made good arguments, well except Naruto who just yelled for something better, but that's not the point. The point is that the points that were made were also good. You all have done quite a number of missions in a short time. Then add the fact that you all graduated fairly high in your class. So I have decided to go ahead and let you do a C ranked mission." The Hokage pulled out a scroll for them to see.

"Really Ojii-san, you're the greatest. So what's the mission?" Naruto practically screamed. Ino who had finally had enough punched him in the back of his head sending him to the floor.

"Nice hit imouto." Jagaa said.

"Arigato Nii-san." Ino smiled back.

"So when did those two get so close?" Kakashi asked Sasuke.

"Let's just say there are six boys who won't be making any rude comments to girls if there's anyone wearing black around." Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Well, why don't I bring in the client for this mission." The Hokage raised his voice. "You can come in now."

The door opened to reveal an old man with a rope around his head, who seemed to be a bit drunk, made more evident by the bottle of sake in his hand.

"What the hell, they're a bunch of kids. Are they even really ninja?" The old man took a swig of his sake before he went on. "The blonde in blue doesn't look all that bright or reliable either."

The old man was more than a little surprised when he suddenly found himself with the tip of both a sword and a kunai touching each side of his neck.

"Would you care to repeat that?" Sasuke said in a menacing tone.

"He won't be able to, because the second he tries I'll cut out his voice box." The fact that Jagaa made his threat in a perfectly calm voice actually scared every one more than Sasuke's voice had.

"Y-y-you know, on s-s-second thought h-he seems l-like a v-very reliable boy." The old man said. All trace of his previous drunkenness seemed to have vanished.

"Seems he's a good judge of people after all," Sasuke said as he removed his kunai.

Jagaa only grunted as he re sheathed his sword.

By now Kakashi had put his hand over his eyes, positive he was going to get scolded for his team's actions. Naruto had a slightly surprised look, while Ino wore a satisfied smirk on her face. The Hokage had lowered his head behind his hat as if embarrassed, but if you were to look closely you would be able to see the small smile that had found its way to his lips.

"A-any way, my name is Tazuna the bridge building expert, and I will have you all protect me with your lives while I build my bridge." The old man said after he had recovered a little.

"You all heard him." The Hokage said from his desk. "You will be leaving in one hour, I suggest you all go pack."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." They all said in unison.

As they turned to leave they heard the Hokage call out again. "Jagaa could you stay a moment please, I would like to talk to you."

Jagaa nodded and turned to his teammates telling them he would catch up. Turning around he went and stood in front of the Hokage's desk. "What do you need old man?"

"I would like to know if you are truly ready to leave Konoha again. I saw your hesitancy to add your impute earlier. If you think you should stay I may be able to provide you with a plausible excuse." The Hokage said in a kind tone.

Jagaa let out a slightly tired breath. "Thanks old man, but I can't keep trying to hide from my past behind these walls forever. Yes taking missions that take me back out into the world beyond Konoha means I _will_ have to face it eventually. But whether it is this mission or the next my past will catch up to me."

The Hokage could see the wisdom in the young mans words but he could not help but still be a little apprehensive. "Just be sure to keep your calm. Remember I was there that night so I am fully aware of what happens when you let rage consume you."

"That happened one time, and I haven't done it since. Give me a break already." With that Jagaa turned around and walked out of the office without a backward glance.

The old man looked at the door that Jagaa had just exited. The memories of that night slowly flooding back. Leaning back with a heavy sigh he said out loud.

"Believe me Jagaa, once was enough."

A/N: Well here's the next chapter. I was thinking of skipping the whole Tenten-Jagaa meeting till later in favor of going strait into the wave arc portion of the story. But since I got the chapter done a lot sooner than expected I decided to keep it the way I originally planned. Next chapter starts the wave arc, where (as I said in the first chap.) we will start to get into Jagaa's past a bit. Please review.


	5. Getting up again

**A/N:** Whew, finally I got this chap done. It came out a lot longer than I thought it would too. Well enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Quit rubbing it in.

**Chapter 5**: Getting up again

"Yatta, lets get going already. Come on, come on, come on, hurry up already. This is my first time being outside of Konoha. I want to get going so I can see more. Come on, let's go." Naruto yelled as he bounced up and down just beyond the main gates.

"You don't need to get so freaking excited dobe. It's not that big a deal." Sasuke said after he had gotten tired of hearing Naruto yelling.

"Yeah Naruto, calm down a bit." Ino added

Naruto gave them both an impatient look. "First off, shut up teme. And second, don't act like you two aren't at least a little bit excited. Neither of you have been outside of Konoha before either.

"Maybe we are a little, but that doesn't mean we have to go around shouting like idiots." Ino said in a stern voice.

"Ahh, you two are kill joys. Oh hey Nii-san," Naruto called out to Jagaa who had finally caught up to them all. "You'll agree with me on this right. Isn't it exciting to finally get to go outside of Konoha?"

Jagaa tilted his head at the younger blonde for a second as if trying to figure out if he was serious before he asked. "Uhh Naruto, did you forget that I originally _came_ from outside of Konoha?"

Naruto gave him a confused look for a minute. Then realization seemed to slowly dawn on him. Putting his hand behind his head he laughed embarrassedly, "He he he, I guess I did."

The other three sweat dropped before shaking their heads.

The four of them stood at the gate entrance for another twenty minutes waiting on Tazuna and Kakashi. Well three of them stood, Naruto had finally annoyed Ino and Jagaa to the point that the double hit they delivered to the back of his head had left him face down on the ground for the last ten of those minutes.

Finally both Kakashi and Tazuna came through the gate to join them. Even though Tazuna kept glancing nervously at Jagaa and Sasuke, it seemed he had not quite gotten over the double death threat.

"Well now that we're all here, let's get going." Kakashi said in his lazy tone.

Naruto made a miraculous recovery at those words and began whooping for joy. He stopped

rather suddenly when he saw both Ino and Jagaa crack their knuckles.

X X X X X

'_Two of them, and judging by the slight haze around them, I'm not supposed to be seeing them._' Jagaa thought to him self when he spotted the two strange ninjas's wearing scuba gear like masks and a huge claw like thing on opposite arms of each other, about one hundred meters ahead of his team. Slowing down his walk he dropped back next to Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei, there's two strange ninja about a hundred meters in front of us. It looks like they're hiding in a genjutsu, and they don't look all that friendly." He said in a low tone so only the Jounin would hear.

Kakashi looked ahead and saw the gleam of a puddle on the path right around were Jagaa had said he saw the ninja. "All right, I know were they are." He turned back to Jagaa. "I want you to fall back a bit. You are not to get involved."

"What?" Jagaa barley caught him self in time not to yell. "Why?"

"Because first and foremost, I need to know exactly who their target is and you may kill them before I find out. Second it will be a good test to see how the others react to a real situation. So I want you far enough back not to let those instincts of yours take over. Understood?"

Jagaa was not happy when he answered. "Fine, but if any of them get hurt, I _will_ find a way to kill you."

"Don't worry, they'll be just fine."

X X X X X

The attack was sudden. Naruto, Ino and Sasuke had been walking up front chatting happily when the sounds of chains being thrown around got their attention. The turned around just in time to see their sensei apparently get sliced into little pieces by the chain that had been wrapped around him.

"That's one." The tow shinobi said through their masks.

Naruto was in a state of shock at seeing his sensei cut to pieces, but he didn't have much time to think about it when he suddenly heard a voice behind him.

"Number two"

Naruto looked back to see the two ninja coming at him with their chain out and ready to wrap slice him up. He felt his blood run cold, and his body freeze. Their was no chance he was going to get away.

'_There to close, I can't dodge._' He told himself franticly.

Suddenly Sasuke was there. Throwing a shuriken at the chain, he managed to pin it against a nearby tree. Naruto, recovering because of Sasuke's actions, followed through by throwing a kunai through the whole in the shuriken and locking it into place. The two enemy nin tried to pull out the chain only to find they were completely stuck to the tree. Naruto and Sasuke used the break in their opponent's concentration to each launch simultaneous kicks to the faces of their enemy before jumping off to separate sides.

The enemy ninja detached their chain from their clawed gauntlets and both went to attack a different boy. Just as they were about to reach them, they were both forced to jump back as a kunai came flying at each of them. The two nin turned their heads to look were the weapons had come from and saw Ino standing in front of Tazuna. Changing their plan the two nin headed strait at the pair.

With a speed born of desperation both Naruto and Sasuke managed to place them selves in front of Ino and Tazuna. Sasuke stood firm ready to receive the attack, but Naruto charged strait at the two attacking nin before anyone could stop him.

Just as Naruto got close to the pair there was a slight blur of movement which ended with Kakashi standing right in front of Naruto with the two enemy ninja in his arms and their necks broken.

"Kakashi-sensei, you're okay." Naruto said as his confusion at the sight of the sensei he thought had died turned to relief.

"Yo, sorry I took so long to help out. I had to make sure that _somebody_ wouldn't go jumping in before I got the information I needed." Kakashi said and looked to the left where Jagaa was walking out from behind a tree.

"Well at least you killed them. I was worried that you would just tie them to a tree or something." Jagaa said as he came up to the rest of the group, "Did you figure out what you needed to know?"

"I did, and on that note" Kakashi turned to look at Tazuna. "I need to talk to you."

The old man seemed to be tense when he nodded.

"Before we go any further, I think you should tell us who is really after your life and why, Tazuna. If you refuse to answer then we will call off the mission immediately." Kakashi said to the old man.

Tazuna stood there for a minute looking at the ground. Finally he looked up at the five of them and began, "I guess I don't have a choice. I will tell you." The old man sighed and took a swig of sake before he went on. "A truly terrible person is after my life. He has taken over the country of the wave by using violence and wealth as his shield. He is a huge business man on the surface but in the underworld he is an evil man who uses mercenaries and ninjas to ruthlessly get what he wants. The reason he wants me dead is because the one thing he fears at the moment is my completing the bridge I am building."

"So who is it?" Kakashi asked while the young genin all paid rapt attention to the old man.

"You should have heard his name before at least." Tazuna paused, "Marine Transportation billionaire, Gatoh."

It came and went so fast, that for a moment Kakashi wondered if he had only imagined it. But he was sure that as soon as Gatoh's name had been said there was a huge spike of Murderous intent that disappeared seemingly as soon as it came. Looking around at the rest of the group he saw that none of them seemed to have taken notice at all. '_Maybe I did imagine it, but I'm not sure why I would have._'

"But don't worry," Tazuna suddenly said. "You can quit right now and go back to your village if you want. I will surly be killed on my way home, but that really isn't any of your concern. Nor is it your concern how my cute eight year old grandson will cry his heart out at the loss of his loving grandfather. Neither is it your problem how my beautiful daughter will forever hate Konoha for leaving me to die. Truly none of this concerns you at all.

The entire team 7 sweat dropped at the old mans obvious ploy. Looking at each other they all seemed to come to a silent understanding, causing Kakashi to scratch his hitai-ate.

"Well I guess it can't be helped. We will continue to escort you." Kakashi said

"Oh, that's good to hear. Let's get going then shall we." Tazuna said in a victorious voice.

Tazuna started walking happily along the road as team 7 turned to follow him. Kakashi had not got very far before he was stopped by Jagaa.

"Kakashi-sensei, I'm going to get the bodies off the road. I'll catch up to you all once I have. Is that okay?"

"Hmm, that's not a bad idea. It wouldn't be good to leave a couple dead bodies on the road leading to our village. People might be less inclined to visit." Kakashi said mostly to himself. "All right take care of it; just try not to take to long."

"Hai" He suddenly remembered something else he wanted to say. "Sensei, you might want to talk to Ino and Naruto about what happened. They may not take seeing both of those ninja killed right in front of them to well."

"Your may be right." Kakashi said. He knew why Jagaa had only said those two. Sasuke had already seen far worse after all. "Don't worry I'll take care of it."

"Arigato Sensei."

X X X X X

Jagaa stood there and watched his team walk away until they were out of sight. As soon as he was sure they were far enough away not to notice. He unleashed all the fury he had been holding tightly inside himself, and slammed his fist into a nearby tree, burying it about halfway to his wrist in the wood. A couple seconds later, blood slowly came flowing out of the hole his fist was in.

"Gatoh" He said through clenched teeth as he forced himself to get his anger back under control.

Finally after a minute or so, and Jagaa having calmed himself down enough to think clearly again, he couldn't help but let out a humorless laugh at the situation he found himself in.

"I told the Hokage my past would catch up to me eventually, but I never thought it would be this soon." He said out loud to himself.

Looking up to the sky he voiced his thoughts again. "I wonder if this is a sign that Kami loves me, or absolutely hates me."

Finally he turned his attention to the bodies that were still lying in the middle of the road.

"Guess I better do what I stayed back to do."

X X X X X

Because of the delay from being attacked, and then waiting for Jagaa to catch up, night had fallen as they reached the edge of the sea. They decided that it would be best to make camp for the night and cross the body of water the next morning. After making the fire and setting up the tents, the group talked about the mission and what dangers could lay ahead. Finally after a few hours Kakashi, Tazuna, Ino, and Sasuke all went to the tents they would be sleeping in. Jagaa had gone off into the woods earlier, saying he wanted to take a walk. This left only Naruto who was staring into the dying fire, lost in thought.

He didn't know how long he had been sitting there staring into the embers before he realized he was no longer alone.

"Can't sleep otouto?" Jagaa said as he sat down next to Naruto.

"I guess I just have a lot on my mind." Naruto said quietly as he continued to stare into the small flames. "You?"

"You know me, I've always been a night person." Jagaa paused a bit and prodded the embers with a stick. "You want to talk about it?" He finally asked gently.

Naruto seemed to hesitate, but finally he let out a sigh as he started to speak.

"It's just…I don't know. It seems like it isn't really happening. I keep expecting to wake up to you flipping my bed because we're late for trying to sneak past fan girls or something you know. To wake up and realize that we were never attacked, that I didn't see two people die in front of me, that I didn't almost die, and that we are not about to keep going with a mission that even seems to have Kakashi-sensei a bit nervous since he's sure they will send Jounin next." He let out another sigh, but this one was more pensive than the first.

Jagaa looked over to his otouto at the sigh, and was surprised to see a look of self loathing on his normally smiling face. "Naruto?" he asked, his questioning voice laced with concern.

"I…I froze you know." Naruto said, hugging his knees to his chest. "When I thought Kakashi-sensei had been killed and then the two ninja got behind me…I froze. I told myself that there was no time for me to dodge, but the truth was that I couldn't have anyway because I was scared." Naruto buried his face in his knees trying to hide the tears that were glistening in his eyes. "I'm pathetic aren't I. All the boasting I do about becoming the Hokage, and I freeze. I really am pathetic." The tears had started falling freely now as he kept his face hidden in his knees.

"But you fought in the end didn't you?" Jagaa said as he looked into the fire, causing Naruto's tear stained face to rise. "You worked with Sasuke to stop that chain they were using, kicked one of them in the face, put yourself in front of Ino and Tazuna when the attack shifted to them, and even charged in to meet them head on in the end. That last one made me want to kick the crap out of you for being so reckless by the way."

Naruto felt a small smile form on his lips as his brother added that last part, but it quickly faded. "I only did those things because Sasuke taking action managed to make my body work again. But what about next time, what if I freeze up again, or worse, run away."

Jagaa looked back at Naruto's tear stained face. Taking a deep breath he spoke gently. "Naruto, you don't have to be so ashamed that you were afraid in a life or death situation. It shows that you're human." Jagaa paused for a moment before continuing, "Being afraid doesn't make you pathetic Naruto. Letting the fear control you does. Be it from Sasuke's actions or not you still fought in the end. You fought even though you were afraid, there's nothing pathetic about that."

Jagaa raised his hand and poked the hitai-ate on Naruto's forehead, "You didn't earn that by being afraid did you? You earned by working harder than anyone I ever met. You earned it by always doing your best, and always getting up again no matter how many times you fell. Never letting failure, or the _fear_ of failure, hold you down."

Jagaa suddenly stood up from his spot on the ground and looked down at the almost dead fire. "Today you fell otouto, and whether or not you get back up again is completely up to you." Jagaa's face once again turned to Naruto, but this time there was a soft and encouraging smile playing on his lips when he spoke. "But I have faith in you. You'll get up again, just as you always have, and when the time comes you'll show everyone how strong you really are." Ruffling Naruto's hair a little, Jagaa walked back into the dark forest, leaving the younger boy alone to think about everything that had been said.

X X X X X

Neither of the two boys' had realized that they were not the only ones awake, as a pair of light blue eyes looked out the flap of her tent.

Ino had heard the entire conversation, and it had taken all she had not to go out and take Naruto into her arms when she had seen him crying. To see the boy who was always overflowing with energy and confidence seeming so sad and lost had made her heart wrench. She was more grateful than she wanted to admit when she heard the comforting words Jagaa had said to him.

Climbing back into her sleeping bag, she replayed the whole conversation in her head over and over again until sleep finally claimed her.

X X X X X

SMASH

"Naruto I told you to quit scaring me like that." Ino yelled furiously at Naruto, who was now nursing the lump on his head. "That is the third time you attacked something that wasn't there."

"Itai, but Ino I really did sense something each time." Naruto whined.

"Just stop lying and trying to show off got it." She said with a raised fist, causing Naruto to flinch.

Off to the side Kakashi turned to Jagaa. "Well?"

"He isn't lying." Jagaa said in a low tone. "He either really is sensing something or at least honestly believes he is."

The conversation was broken by a shout from Ino. "NARUTO, look what you did. The poor thing is scared half to death."

"Gahh, oh no." Naruto said as he ran to the bushes and bent down. When he came back up he was holding a snow white rabbit and apologizing to it profusely.

'_That's a snow rabbit._' Kakashi thought to himself. '_But their fur should only be white in the winter when the days are short. Which means someone raised it where the sun wasn't an issue, to be used for **Kawarimi**._' Kakashi looked around to the trees searching for some sign of the new enemy. '_They sure got here fast._'

X X X X X

"I see. No wonder the Demon Brothers were unable to complete the mission. At their level, with the legendary copy ninja 'Sharingan Kakashi' as their opponent, they were doomed to fail." The man in the trees grabbed the hilt of a huge sword on his back. "Well let's get started."

X X X X X

"EVERYONE GET DOWN!!" Kakashi yelled as he heard the large weapon flying at them. The group barley managed to hit the ground as the giant blade passed over their heads and lodged itself into a tree. A second later a man with bandage like face masking, no shirt, light blue shinobi pants, and black and white camouflage arm and leg warmers appeared on its hilt with his back facing them. His head was turned in a way that showed his Kiri hitai-ate that he wore on the side of his head.

"Well well well, if it isn't Momochi Zabuza, the exiled ninja of Kirigakure." Kakashi said in a light tone as he walked up to the nin with his hands in his pockets.

A movement in the corner of his eye alerted Kakashi to the fact his students were getting ready to jump in the fray. He quickly put out his hand to stop them.

"All of you will stay out of it. This man is nothing like the ones we faced before." Kakashi said to his team and reached up to his hitai-ate. "If he is the opponent, then I can't win like this."

"Sharingan Kakashi, I'll be needing you to hand over that geezer now." Zabuza said in a casual, yet menacing tone.

'_Sharingan?_' Sasuke's mind reeled a bit at the implication. '_Does that mean he has it?_'

"All of you form up around Tazuna and protect him. That is your job in this fight." With those words Kakashi raised the left side of his hitai-ate, revealing a crimson eye with a black pupil and three comma marks around it.

"Oh, I'm honored that I get to see the Sharingan that I've heard so much about. But I think we should cut the chitchat now. I really need to kill that geezer." He looked to Tazuna who had been partially surrounded by the four genin who all stood facing out in different directions, three with kunai in hand and one with his hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to prevent any attack.

"But, it would seem I have to deal with you first. Eh Kakashi." With that the Kiri nukenin grabbed his large sword from the tree and vanished.

Kakashi and the rest of team 7 waited anxiously, hoping to be able to counter whatever attack the nukenin might do. As they waited, they noticed the mist surrounding them was steadily getting thinker. Kakashi, realizing it would be dangerous to loose sight of his team, made a few quick seals and then let off a blast of chakra to dispel some of the mist around them.

Sasuke unfortunately was having a panic attack at the Killing Intent he was feeling from the two Jounin. '_I feel like I'm going to go crazy. The desire to kill coming from both Jounin, the feeling that my life is in someone else's hands, I can't take it._' The clutched the kunai he held with both hands. '_I would rather kill myself than feel this way._' He started to raise the kunai to strike himself.

"Sasuke…" The voice of Kakashi snapped the frightened boy back to reality.

"Don't worry; I will protect you all with my life." Kakashi turned to look at the raven haired boy, "I wont let anyone on my team die." He said as his eyes closed in a smile.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Zabuza's voice ghosted from the mist. Then without the slightest warning, he was in the middle of the protective formation the Genin had made.

Kakashi looked back and saw Zabuza, his Sharingan fixing on the man, and began to charge.

"It's ove…Gahh" Was all Zabuza managed to say before a blade pierced his stomach.

Kakashi had stopped mid charge in disbelief at the scene before him. Zabuza was still in the middle of the formation, but with Jagaa's sword stuck in his stomach and Jagaa was still facing Kakashi with his blade stabbing behind him at his hip.

"Sorry, reflex." Was all Jagaa said.

Unfortunately any thoughts of victory were short lived as Zabuza burst into water, while at the same time, another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi.

"SENSEI BEHIND YOU!" Naruto shouted, but it was too late. Before Kakashi could even fully turn around, the giant cleaver like sword sliced him in half. Only Jagaa wasn't surprised when Kakashi also turned out to be water.

"**Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu**" Zabuza said in shock, before he could finish processing what happened, he realized he had a kunai to his throat.

"Don't move." Kakashi said from behind Zabuza. "It's over."

"He he he, over is it?" Zabuza said, his laughter surprising Kakashi.

"Sensei, that one is water too." Jagaa called out, he suddenly jumped to the side as a huge sword came crashing down where he had just been standing. Before Jagaa's feet could hit the ground again the Zabuza that attacked him swung his blade sideways forcing Jagaa to block it with his own. The force of the colliding blades sent Jagaa flying into the surrounding trees with the **Mizu Bunshin** hot on his trail.

'_He's singling out Jagaa_' Kakashi realized, at the same time he also realized that the real Zabuza was behind him. Barley ducking in time he avoided the swing that was supposed to take his head off. But he wasn't able to avoid the powerful kick that Zabuza followed up with. The force of the kick launched Kakashi into the nearby lake, and before he could get out Zabuza was next to him doing seals.

"**Suirou no Jutsu**" Zabuza said, and suddenly Kakashi was trapped in a sphere of water.

"You're troublesome when you're moving around Kakashi, so I'll just keep you in there while I take care of the brats." Keeping his right hand in the sphere of water Zabuza made a sign with his left. "**Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu**" when he finished a pillar of water rose from the lake and took the form of Zabuza.

Before any of them could react, the **Mizu Bunshin **Zabuza appeared in front of Naruto and kneed him in the face sending him flying backwards and his hitai-ate falling from his head. Zabuza slammed his foot on the item were it fell.

Naruto looked back from were he fell, terror clear in his eyes. He saw the Jounin in front of him, he saw Kakashi trapped in the water Sphere. He knew they were no match. He was afraid.

"All of you run." Kakashi yelled from the water prison. "He can't move because of the jutsu he's using, and if you get far enough away he won't be able to use his **Mizu Bunshins** on you. You have to run NOW."

'_Run!? You can't be serious. We lost that option the moment you were caught. Even if we got away he would just hunt us down at his leisure later._' Sasuke raged in his mind. '_Not only that, Jagaa has been drug into a fight with one of those **Mizu Bunshins** and it's not like we can casually ask Zabuza to let Jagaa leave with us. The only chance any of us have now is to save you._'

Sasuke made his charge throwing shuriken as he did. Zabuza easily knocked the projectiles to the side, and saw Sasuke coming in from above him.

"I've got you." Sasuke yelled.

"Hmph, too easy" Zabuza said as he casually grabbed Sasuke by the throat, choking him a bit before throwing him to the ground.

"SASUKE" Ino cried, as she saw him slam into the ground.

'_Even Sasuke got…_' Naruto felt his fear rising '_We can't win, this is a Jounin, a real ninja, and at this rate we'll all be killed for sure. I have to run. I have to run away._' Naruto turned in his position on the ground, his fear driving him. His only thought being to get away. He was going to run.

Then he heard it, the distinct sound of metal on metal, followed by a crash and an angry shout. Naruto knew instantly whose voice that was. '_Nii-san!_'

'**_Being afraid doesn't make you pathetic Naruto. Letting the fear control you, does.'_**

The words Jagaa had said to him the night before came flooding into Naruto's mind. His body wouldn't move anymore, he couldn't make himself run. Slowly Naruto turned his head and looked back at the Jounin behind him, his eyes going to his feet where his hitai-ate was still being stepped on.

'_**You didn't earn that by being afraid did you?'**_

Naruto remembered the night he earned his hitai-ate. Iruka's smiling face coming into his mind.

'**_Congratulations Naruto, you passed'_**

Then those words that had made him so happy found him again.

'_**I'm proud of you otouto'**_

'_That's right._' Naruto thought. His body had begun to move again and he was slowly getting to his feet. '_I can't run away now. If I did, I would never be able to look any of them in the face again. Nii-san is fighting, Sasuke is fighting, Kakashi-sensei is fighting, even Ino is standing her ground. If I run now I really will be pathetic._'

"I WONT BE PATHETIC AGAIN" Naruto yelled out as he charged full speed directly at Zabuza.

"Naruto don't" Ino cried out in fear.

"Idiot" was all Zabuza said before he sent Naruto bouncing across the ground to his teammates.

"Naruto are you crazy? What are you thinking charging in like that?" Ino yelled at the boy on the ground. She was about to say more when she was cut off when Naruto grunted and started to rise. It was then Ino noticed what he held clenched in his hand.

'_He went to get his hitai-ate!_'

Ino could only watch as Naruto slowly got back on his feet. It was obvious that it was painful, but he kept rising. As she watched, Jagaa's words to Naruto found their way to her mind.

'**_I believe in you. You'll get up again, just as you always have, and when the time comes…'_**

"Hey, no brow over there" Naruto's voice rang out. "Remember this and remember this well. I'm the man who will take on the title of Hokage one day." He started retying his hitai-ate on his head.

"The Konhagakure Shinobi" He looked directly at Zabuza, all fear gone. "Uzumaki Naruto"

'**_You'll show everyone how strong you really are.'_**

As those words came back to her mind, Ino could only stare in wonder at the blonde in front of her. She could feel her heart beating faster, and it had nothing to do with fear. She felt her cheeks start to color ever so slightly as her mind said what she wanted to say out loud.

'_I believe in you too, Naruto._'

Needless to say, Zabuza was more than a little annoyed by the declaration from the young blonde boy.

"Hey Sasuke, you up for helping me kick bandage faces ass." Naruto said with a grin.

Sasuke looked at Naruto for a minute like he was insane. But seeing that grin of his, Sasuke couldn't help but get a small one of his own. '_Yep we're insane_'

"Depends, what are our chances" He said as he walked up beside Naruto.

"With the two of us working together…I'd say slim to none." Naruto said his grin widening.

"Really, and here I thought it might actually be hard." Sasuke said, giving Zabuza his best smirk.

"Well then" Naruto said wiping some blood from his face. "Let's go wild."

If Zabuza was annoyed before, he was pissed now.

"You brats not only want to keep acting like your ninja, but you also think you even have a chance at beating me. Maybe you should know that by the time I was your age my hands were already soaked with blood."

Ok, that managed to shock them all a bit.

"The Demon Zabuza" Kakashi said from his prison.

"Oh, so you've heard of what happened." Zabuza asked with mild interest.

"A long time ago, Kirigakure was known as the village of bloody mist. Because of the finale test that had to be taken in order to become a ninja." Kakashi said.

"What was the finale test?" Naruto asked, causing Zabuza to laugh.

"Students who had worked together, competed together, and shared their dreams with each other. Were separated into groups of two and made…" Zabuza looked at the genin in front of him. "To fight to the death."

The genin looked in horror at the Jounin in front of them, barley believing that they had heard correctly.

"Ten years ago Kiri had to go through a reformation because of an incident a year before. A young boy who had not even earned the right to be a ninja… killed over one hundred candidates without hesitation." Kakashi told them all.

Zabuza was staring off into space as if lost in thought. "That was fun." He said wistfully. Then he focused on the genin.

Before anyone could react Zabuza had slammed an elbow into Sasuke's chest sending him to the ground, then brought his elbow down hard on Sasuke's stomach. Straitening up Zabuza slammed his foot into the same place and began grinding with it, as his hand reached to the sword on his back.

"Die" He said as he continued to grind Sasuke into the ground.

"**Kage Bunshin no Justu**" Naruto yelled, creating at least fifty clones.

"Oh, **Kage Bunshins **eh, and you created quite a few of them." Zabuza said, casually looking around.

"All the Naruto's pulled out a kunai and got into a ready stance. "Here I come, asshole." Naruto said just before he charged at Zabuza. Some clones jumping up to come at Zabuza from above. The end result was a giant Naruto dome covering Zabuza.

At least until Zabuza threw all the clones away with a powerful shove.

Clones were poofing out of existence left and right as the hit the ground. One Naruto was digging in to his pack as he slid. '_This is the best chance we got._' Pulling out his Fuuma shuriken he threw it to Sasuke who caught the weapon.

Sasuke was surprised when he first realized what Naruto had planned, but that faded quickly. '_Not bad Naruto, I should have known you would think of something like this._' He unfolded the deadly weapon and held it in front of him. "**Fuuma Shuriken, Kage Fuunsha**" He said to the Jounin.

"A shuriken won't work against me." Zabuza said calmly.

Ignoring him, Sasuke jumped into the air and with a strong spin of his body sent the large shuriken flying.

Zabuza stood calmly preparing to catch the weapon, when he realized that it was not aiming for him. Instead it flew past him and started heading for the real Zabuza. Any chance he might have had to stop the thing disappeared when he felt sharp pain in his side. Looking down he saw three kunai in his body, water spewing out.

"Forgot about me didn't you." Ino said with a smirk as he burst into water. She had used the clone's laps in concentration to launch a surprise attack on the annoying water man.

'_So their attacking the real one this time eh._' As the blade was about to strike him he grabbed it pulled it to the side. "_But it still won't work_."

When the next one appeared he was a little surprised.

'_Another shuriken was in the shadow of the first._' With his two hands already occupied he did the easiest thing next to catching it. He jumped over it. '_Once again though, too easy._'

Sasuke just let out a smirk.

With a pop of smoke, the flying shuriken turned into a flying Naruto who was now directly behind a very surprised Zabuza.

"Eat this." Naruto yelled as he threw a kunai strait at the Jounin, aiming or a spot that would make it impossible to dodge without moving. And move Zabuza did, taking his hand out of the water sphere and releasing the jutsu he had Kakashi imprisoned in without realizing it.

"You little brat" Zabuza yelled as he went to kill Naruto with the Fuuma shuriken he still held. Only to have it stopped by the now free Kakashi, and the look Kakashi gave him actually sent a chill down Zabuza's spine.

"Naruto, I was really impressed with that plan of yours." Kakashi said

"Hehe, I never thought I could beat Zabuza, I just used all those **Kage Bunshins** to hide the fact I had transformed into a Fuuma Shuriken. Then I had a clone throw me to Sasuke who instantly realized it was me and took out his own shuriken and used **Kage Shuriken**. I was hiding in the shadow of the real one and went strait for Zabuza. I knew it wouldn't beat him, but I hoped it might at least make him drop the **Suirou no Jutsu **and give us a fighting chance." Naruto let off a huge grin. "Then if you add the fact Ino managed to use the opportunity to take out the **Mizu Bunshin**, I would say it was a huge success."

"Heh, if you think that was good you should have seen some of the pranks we've pulled before." Sasuke said still smirking proudly, making Naruto's grin widen even more.

"Hmmff, so I got distracted and released the **Suirou no Jutsu**." Zabuza said lightly.

"No, you didn't release it. You were forced to." Kakashi said scathingly, causing the other Jounin to give him a hard look.

"Let me warn you, the same jutsu will not work on me twice." Kakashi said. "So what will you do?"

Zabuza gave the silver haired Jounin a hate filled glare. He had every intention of killing the Konoha ninja.

X X X X X

Jagaa was breathing hard as he looked down at the newly formed puddle of water. He had been fighting the damn thing for a while now, and even though he had managed to avoid being hit by that huge sword, the punches and kicks he didn't had managed to do enough damage on their own.

'_I have to stop forcing myself to fight like this. It's going to get me killed. I can't believe I was getting my ass handed to me by a bunch of water._' Jagaa was more than a little mad at himself for how the fight had gone. He had been on the defensive the whole time.

He started to wonder how the rest of his team was doing, hoping to Kami that no one had been hurt. He was trying to get his bearings so he could go back to the others, when he saw a huge raging jet of water smash into a tree about three hundred yards to his left.

'_I guess their over there._' He thought and began heading in the direction of the attack.

X X X X X

"Can you…see the future?" Zabuza asked in a weak voice after getting hit with his own technique.

"Yes. You're going to die." Kakashi said as he raised a kunai.

From out of nowhere two senbon needles drove strait into Zabuza's neck.

"Well it would seem that he did die after all." A light voice came ghosting from the trees.

Looking in the direction it had come from, Kakashi saw two young ninja standing on a branch of a tree not far away.

One had black hair with two large strands of it falling over his face and the rest in a knot, held in a piece of cloth on the top of his head. He was dressed in a blueish green robe like top, with a brown long sleeved turtle neck shirt underneath, and brown dress like pants. He also had a mask on that had two red curved lines almost resembling fire coming from the bottom of it.

The other on was completely different. His hair was short and dark brown and he wore dark read shinobi pants, and a sleeveless dark red shirt. But what really set him apart was the weapon he carried. It looked like two broad swords connected by about two feet of metal in the middle. A staff with blades as it were. The only thing similar of the two was that this one also wore a mask. Only his had three red slash like marks going diagonally across his.

The two disappeared in a whirl of leaves and reappeared next to Zabuza's body.

"We have to thank you" the girly one said to Kakashi. "We have been looking for an opportunity to kill Zabuza for quite some time."

Kakashi analyzed the pair for a moment before speaking. "From the looks of it I would say that the two of you are hunter-nin from Kirgakure."

"Yes, we are members of the pursuit ninja unit that…" Whatever else he was going to say was cut short as Jagaa came flying towards the two from out of nowhere, his sword already aiming for the one speaking.

He never made contact though as his sword was blocked by one of the blades of the boy in red's weapon. The boy in red then backed his blade off and used the other side to take a swipe at Jagaa's neck.

Jagaa quickly jumped back and threw a few shuriken at the boy, only to have him block them all by spinning his weapon.

"Jagaa!?" Kakashi said in surprise at the sudden arrival and immediate fighting. "What are you…?"

"Sensei stop them, their lying about who they are and why their here."

Kakashi immediately moved to intercept them but it was too late as the one who was talking had already grabbed Zabuza and disappeared in another whirl of leaves.

The remaining one looked at Jagaa intently for a moment and then spoke.

"The next time we meet, I would like to fight you." A whirl of leaves began to form around the boy, but just before he vanished he said one finale thing.

"The _real_ you"

X X X X X

Jagaa stared at where the boy had been a few seconds before he resheathed his sword. Turning around he was suddenly confronted by three pairs of angry eyes, two being blue and one being black.

"Uhh, what's up." He said a bit nervously.

"How in the hell did you know they were lying and why didn't Kakashi-sensei seemed surprised at all by the fact you did." Naruto said in a clearly annoyed tone as the other two nodded their agreement to the question, still staring hard.

"Oh that." Jagaa scratched the back of his head and gave them a sheepish grin. "Did I never mention that I have always been able to tell when someone's lying?" The Shocked reactions he got made the answer pretty clear. "Huh, I guess I never got around to it." He wasn't lying, he honestly thought he would have at least mentioned it to them by now.

"Is there anything else that you can do that you haven't told us?" Sasuke said through clenched teeth. Man they were taking the fact they didn't know about this hard.

"Well I guess I should mention that lately I have been able to see through all **Henges** and **Genjutsus**. I also can't seem to turn the ability off any more then I can the lie detector thing."

Once more the three managed to look completely shocked. Jagaa could see they were about to ask something else, when Kakashi suddenly fell over from exhaustion, making the young genin turn their attention to him.

'_Well at least I get out of twenty questions for a while._' Jagaa thought to himself as he helped pick up their unconscious sensei.

**A/N:** Man this chap gave me problems. I had to rework it several times to get it to where I was at least somewhat satisfied. I decided I can always rework and repost it later if I have to. Sorry if you were disappointed Jagaa didn't play a big part in the fight, but considering what I have planned for him in the bridge fight, I didn't like the idea of overusing him in this one.

Oh yes, I was also hoping for some help on a little problem I am having. You see because of Jagaa being in the mix. I am going to need to mess with the Chuunin exams a bit. Now how much I mess with it I was hoping you all could help me with.

There are some fights I am keeping the same, like Neji vrs Hinata and Tenten vrs Temari, because I already have a plan for them in the story. I am also fairly sure I want to keep Ino vrs Sakura if for no other reason than for Ino to kick the crap out of Sakura. No I don't hate Sakura, I just think it would work for this fic. All the others are open for playing with though. If you have a good idea for a match up I would like to hear it. Otherwise I will have to use the much simpler plan I have for it.


	6. The Bridge Battle Begins

**A/N:** Well the next chapter is up. No I am not satisfied with it, and will probably never be satisfied with any of my work considering my limited writing experience. But I do the best I can so I can't complain too much.

I'm not sure how well I described my new OC's weapon in the last chapter so I thought up a fairly useful visual aid. I know you have all seen Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. (If you haven't there may be something wrong with you) so think of Darth Mal's double light saber. Just with a simpler middle grip and two broadsword like metal blades, instead of red glowing ones made of light. That's really the best way I can describe it. I hope it helped. Any way on to the next chap.

Oh and just so you all know. I may have to up the rating to 'M' when I post chapter 7. Things are gonna get bloody.

**Disclaimer:** You see this. This is me not owning Naruto.

**Chapter 6:** The Bridge Battle Begins

"Alright spill it. How long have you had these abilities of yours?" Ino demanded.

"Yeah and why have I never heard about this? I thought you were my brother." Naruto was trying for the guilt trip approach.

"How many other secrets do you have that you are hiding from us Jagaa." Sasuke questioned scathingly.

Jagaa was currently backed into a corner by the three younger kids. They had just gotten to Tazuna's house with the exhausted Kakashi and laid him down to rest. After Kakashi had told them all about the effects using the Sharingan had on his body, and assured them that he would be back up to full strength in about a week. The trio had immediately rounded on Jagaa and started demanding explanations about his passive abilities.

"You know the three of you are taking this rather hard aren't you. It's not like I lied to you, I just never actually told you." Jagaa noticed how hard the trio's eyes got and continued quickly. "If it makes you feel any better, I have never actually told anyone, well unless we count you three yesterday. Everyone else who knows either figured it out for themselves or was told by someone else. I honestly forgot that I hadn't told you yet since I'm used to people knowing already."

The three younger Genin seemed to calm down a little, but were still staring at him hard, so he added a little more.

"Hell, I didn't even know I was seeing through illusions and things until about a week ago when I saw through some people's henges and asked them about it. So you can't really blame me for that one since I am still figuring it out."

The other three seemed to finally be pacified, for the moment. There was however an uncomfortable silence hanging in the air. Finally Ino spoke up again.

"So who else knows besides Kakashi-sensei?" She asked.

Jagaa started to shift uncomfortably. He didn't mind them knowing who knew. The problem would be once he told them that the four ANBU who followed him around all the time knew about it then the next question would be obvious. He wasn't quite ready for them to know why he had to have constant supervision yet.

Fortunately it seemed Kakashi was thinking along the same lines because he interrupted the conversation.

"Let's leave the rest of the questions for a later time. Right now we have to start preparing for Zabuza's arrival." He said from his position on the floor.

"What do you mean by prepare Kakashi-sensei?" Ino asked immediately.

Before Kakashi could answer, Tazuna walked in followed by a young boy who appeared to be no more than eight or so.

"I would like you all to meet my grandson Inari." The old man said before looking down at the boy. "Inari, these are the ninja that escorted me back."

The boy called Inari looked at everyone sitting in the room for a moment. "Jii-chan, they're going to die. Nobody can win if they stand up to Gatoh."

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY?" The shout surprised practically everyone since it had come simultaneously from both Naruto and Ino.

"Listen here you little brat. Who the hell do you think you are? Coming in and spouting off crap like that." Ino yelled at the boy.

"That's right, you better remember this, I'm the man that's going to be Hokage someday, and be a protector and hero for my village." Naruto exclaimed in his confident tone.

"Hmmff, there's no such thing as heroes." Inari said as he turned and walked out of the room.

Both Jagaa and Sasuke had to each grab a separate blonde to keep them from chasing after the boy.

"I swear I'm gonna kick the crap out of that kid." Naruto growled.

"Not if I beat you to it." Ino said with a growl of her own.

"Umm, anyway, about preparing for when Zabuza comes back, which will most likely be around the time it takes me to recover." Kakashi said in his bored voice.

"Right. So how exactly are we going to prepare sensei?" Sasuke asked even as he still held back a furious Naruto.

"You're all going to be going through some training."

X X X X X

"He's still alive!! You call yourself a demon and you can't even kill one old man." An enraged Gatoh yelled at the bedridden figure of Momochi Zabuza who didn't say anything. Gatoh's two guards were standing a bit behind him with their hand on the hilt of the swords at their waists, watching the two young nin who were standing near Zabuza's bed.

"Why don't you answer you piece of sh..gaahh." Gatoh who had been reaching out to Zabuza as if to hit him suddenly found his arm in the vice like grip of the feminine ninja that was steadily getting tighter.

"Don't you DARE touch Zabuza-san with that filthy hand."

"Stop please…it's going to break…AHHH." He yelled just before the audible snap of his arm was heard through the room.

The two body guards where about to attack when they each found themselves with a blade across their throat and the red clad ninja standing between them holding his weapon level to their necks, one of the edges of each blade lightly touching their skin. His coal colored eyes looking at them disinterestedly.

"That might not be the best of ideas." He said in a shallow tone.

Gatoh and his two guards backed away to the door as fast as they could.

"Just make sure you kill him next time or don't you dare come back." Gatoh yelled clutching his broken arm as the three of them left as fast as they could.

The three Kiri nin watched the hasty departure of the crime lord with a bit of amusement. Finally Zabuza spoke. "Haku, you didn't need to do that."

"I know, but it is too early to kill Gatoh, if we cause too much ruckus we will be hunted again." The feminine one said. Then realizing something Haku turned to the remaining nin. "I am surprised that you didn't kill those two though, Tora."

The one called Tora focused his black eyes on the brown ones of Haku. "You didn't seem to want the killed and I had no interest in them." He stated simply.

"I see, but you do seem to be interested in that boy from Konoha that was wearing black." Haku stated. Tora just nodded.

"I understand your interest Tora." Zabuza said from the bed. "The kid may have only fought like a skilled Genin, but you weren't thinking about that were you."

"No I wasn't. True he took on one of your **Mizu Bunshin's** by him self, even if he was on the defensive the whole time, but something seemed off the whole time he fought it. It didn't feel right. It was like he was fighting in a way he wasn't comfortable with." Tora said.

"True," Haku said "He didn't seem like a normal Genin, skilled or otherwise, when he destroyed that first **Mizu Bunshin**. It was a reflex just like he said. No fresh genin without any real combat experience has that kind of attack reflex. But after that he seemed like any other slightly above average Genin."

Zabuza seemed lost in thought for the last part of the conversation, finally he spoke again. "I may have an idea of who that brat is, and if I'm right, it means he is trying to hide his past from the rest of them. But since we saw through him, and I'm sure he knows it, he may decide it is time to stop hiding. Things will get interesting next time if that proves true."

"I can't wait to fight him." Tora said, a glint of excitement coming to his eyes. "The _real_ him."

X X X X X

"Sooo, you want us to climb trees?" Jagaa asked the silver haired Jounin.

Kakashi visible eye gave his upside down U smile. "Correct, but the catch is that you can't use your hands."

"NANI, how do you expect us to do that?" Ino said irritably.

"Like this." Kakashi said while still smiling. Turning to the nearest tree he crutched his way towards it and without stopping, started crutching his way up the side of it, finally coming to a stop hanging upside down from a large branch.

Needless to say, the four genin were shocked.

"The point of this exercise teaches you how to better control your chakra." Kakashi said while still standing upside down. "You have to gather the correct amount of chakra into your feet and maintain it to stick to the tree. This can be difficult for even well trained ninja since your feet are the hardest places to gather chakra."

Kakashi smiled as he peered down at the four below him, all who looked a little dubious.

"The best way for you to learn this is to do it." Kakashi produced four kunai and threw them in front of each of the genin below him. "Use those to mark how far you get up the tree before you lose your control and fall off. Then aim to make the next mark higher than the one before it. None of you are good enough to walk up the tree yet so try running to get an extra boost."

Three of the genin below him nodded and picked up one of the kunai on the ground. The fourth one however glared through his sunglasses at the weapon in front of him as if trying to melt the thing with his gaze.

Kakashi smiled in amusement at Jagaa. '_I forgot he can't throw a kunai to save his life, literally. I guess that turned into a searing hatred for the weapon itself._'

After a moment Jagaa kicked the offending weapon away and put his hand to the hilt of his sword.

"THIS IS GONNA BE A PIECE OF CAKE." Naruto yelled, this causing Ino to land a punch to the back of his head. "Quit yelling baka."

"Well let's do this." Jagaa said while the rest nodded. All four started gathering the chakra into their feet. Once they felt they were ready they all ran to their tree.

Naruto took two steps and promptly fell on his head.

Sasuke managed to get about fifteen feet up before he was shot off the tree from using too much chakra. Just before he was pushed away he leaned in and slashed the tree.

Jagaa had managed to get about twenty feet before he felt himself start to slip. Pushing off he back flipped away from the tree turning his body in mid air and slashing his mark in the tree with his sword while he was upside down before finishing the flip to land.

Ino did the best, getting almost thirty feet up before she had to make her mark and jump back from the tree.

"Ha, who was it who said this was going to be easy? Ehh Naruto." Ino said with a smirk to the boy who was still clutching his head in pain.

"Shut up Ino." Naruto retorted, not even bothering to add chan.

"WHO ARE YOU TELLING TO SHUT UP!!!" Ino shouted as several veins appeared on her forehead.

While the two of them got into their arguing match, which would probably end with Naruto getting more lumps on his head, Jagaa and Sasuke had already started to run up the tree again.

X X X X X

They had been going at it for almost eight hours now. Ino had held the lead for most of it, but about an hour ago Jagaa had managed to catch up and was now going higher than her. He was pretty close to reaching the top, but Ino was hot on his heals.

"Looks like I'm going to win imouto." Jagaa called out playfully.

"Don't celebrate yet Nii-san. I can still catch up." Ino taunted back. They had been good playfully egging each other on for a while now.

Sasuke had managed to improve quite a bit as well, he was now reaching about thirty feet, but he wasn't making any huge headway, for some reason he seemed to have hit some kind of blocker for himself.

Naruto…was now reaching about eight feet.

Finally unable to take it anymore, both Jagaa and Ino went down and started whispering pointers to Naruto.

"Hey, what gives?" Sasuke demanded. "Why are you giving him hints and not me?"

"Well you are said to be a genius Sasuke. So we have complete faith in you to be able to figure it out." Jagaa said.

"That's right," Ino added. "You're not like Naruto who needs all the help he can get."

Naruto, who had been grinning impudently at Sasuke, realized exactly what the other blondes had said and rounded on them in anger. "ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY THAT I'M STUPID?" He yelled at them.

Ino and Jagaa just laughed and ran up their trees, leaving a fuming Naruto on the ground jumping up and down yelling insults at them.

X X X X X

Finally after an entire day of climbing trees everyone was ready to go back to Tazuna' house. Jagaa and Ino were, to their mutual enjoyment, rubbing the fact that both of them had already managed to reach the top of the tree in the faces of their other two teammates. If the glares that could turn stones to water were any indication, Neither Naruto or Sasuke were very amused.

Naruto had finally gotten sick of it and said he was going to stay and train. The other three had left him alone and went back to the house, and Naruto did just what he said he would. He trained until he passed out on the forest floor.

Now Naruto found himself being slightly blinded by the sun, and staring up at the face of one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen.

"You shouldn't sleep out here. You'll catch cold." The girl said.

Naruto shot up instantly and started blushing as he looked into her beautiful brown eyes. "Uhh, hehe, so who are you miss?" When she gave him her beautiful smile he felt his blush increase.

"What are you doing out here?" The girl asked in her sweet voice.

Naruto perked up instantly. "I'm in training." He said with his fox grin.

"Training? Are you a ninja or something?" She asked.

"That's right. But not just any ninja, I'm the man that is going to be the Hokage someday. Then everyone will acknowledge my existence and strength."

"So you train for only yourself then?" Her voice seemed to get slightly lower, but that went away quickly. Looking up she asked him another question. "Tell me, do you have someone important to you?"

"Ehh, what do you mean?" Naruto asked and saw the girl get a faraway look in her eyes.

"When a person has someone they cherish and wish to protect, they can become truly strong. Do you understand what I mean?" She said.

Naruto thought about what she said for a moment, his mind running through everyone who meant something to him.

He saw Iruka flash into his mind, all the times they had gone for ramen, the night Iruka gave Naruto his hitai-ate. Every prank Iruka had either been the victim of or the one chasing them for it. Every smile, every laugh, every kind word all came back.

Then he saw Ino, his mind replaying every conversation they had ever had inside her family's flower shop. Her light blue eyes and platinum blonde hair dancing vividly in his minds eye, as well as her captivating smile and beautiful laugh. He even remembered all the punches that he gladly received just so he could feel her touch. The girl he secretly had a crush on.

Next came Sasuke. The first day they had became friends stood out in the forefront of his memories. Followed by every prank, every insult, every laugh they had shared together, making him realize just how much Sasuke had become more family than just best friend.

Finally came the last and most important part of his life, Jagaa. The family he had always wanted. The one who played the role of parent, brother, cousin, friend, everything he had never had before he met him. The one who had pulled him out of his hell called loneliness. His Nii-san.

Naruto knew, deep in his heart, that even if he did want the strength to make everyone acknowledge him. More than anything else, he wanted strength to protect the ones he cared for. His precious people. He wanted to protect them, so that he would never lose them.

"Yeah, I understand what you mean." Naruto said softly, a pure smile coming to his lips.

Another beautiful smile graced the girl's face as she reached down and picked up the basket she had brought. As she stood up she looked back to the still sitting Naruto.

"You will become very strong then."

With that she began walking away. She had not gotten far when she stopped and looked back. "By the way, I'm a guy." Was all she said before she started walking away again.

Naruto sat completely shocked for a moment as his mind processed what he had just heard. It didn't take to long though before his voice started to work again.

"**NAAANNNNIIIIIII**"

When Naruto got home later that day, he didn't say a word about what happened. He was to busy wanting to kill himself for apparently being attracted to a guy. He could barley look at any one the rest of the day.

X X X X X

"_You demon, you should never have been allowed to live." The villager sneered as he kicked the boy to the ground._

"_Today we'll do what should have been done a long time ago you monster." Another villager yelled as brought the staff he held down on the boys ribs. "You may have fooled them, but not us. We know what you are."_

_The boy lay curled in the fetal position, covering his head to protect it from the rain of blows that were continuously racking his body._

"_What did I do?" The little boy cried, "What did I ever do to any of you?" He felt the blows increase and he curled tighter trying to protect himself._

"_You were born you demon brat. That's all you had to do. You lived. But now we will take care of you once and for all." The blows stopped, and the boy looked up slightly to see a villager holding a knife, getting ready to strike the crying child._

'I was born? I lived?_' The boy felt it, a rage growing inside of him. The pain was gone, the fear was gone, and his tears stopped falling. '_They hate me for existing, not for anything I've done._' His blood felt like fire, his vision clouded with a red haze, and every thing seemed to turn slow motion._

_Then he saw it. It was still laying there next to him. He looked to the man with the knife, which was just about to strike. His body reacted on instinct he rolled to the side and grabbed what lay by him, the knife just missing him. He jumped to his feet, his eyes burning with hatred and making the villagers cower. He didn't care anymore; he would be just what they wanted._

"_You want a demon so badly, THEN I'LL SHOW YOU ONE." He roared as charged._

_He heard the man scream, he felt the blood hit his body…and he enjoyed it._

X X X X X

He shot up from his bed on the floor. His body covered in a cold sweat. His breathing labored and ragged. His eyes darted around the room, panic almost setting in from the unfamiliar surroundings. His mind still locked in his nightmare.

After a few moments the panic began to fade as he realized it had been a dream. His mind brought forth all the recent events. The mission, the fight with Zabuza, the tree training, the fact that they were in Tazuna's house, all of it came flooding back.

Looking around the room he saw the rest of his team slipping soundly and undisturbed. Seeing their peaceful faces was enough to further calm his mind.

He got up and walked to the window, wanting to feel the cool night air on his body. '_It's been a long time since I had a dream like that._' he thought as he stared at the trees gently being gently moved by the wind.

He didn't know how long he stood their just letting the soft breeze calm his spirit, before a loud snore pulled him from his relaxed state. Knowing that snore was the first of many to come, added with the slight anxiety of a recurrence of his nightmare, he decided he was done sleeping for the night.

Walking back to his bedding, he kneeled down next to the one making the noise. As he did one hand rose up and came to rest lightly over one of his eyes while he looked at the sleeping boy.

"I guess we both know too well what it's like to be hated for something we had no control of." He whispered softly.

Picking up his sword from its place next to his bed, Jagaa got up and silently left the room, the nightmare of his past still firm in his mind.

X X X X X

The next few days went by without incident. Sasuke and Naruto were still trying to finish the tree climbing training and Jagaa had been going off by himself every morning to do his own training and not coming back until dinner that night. Ino guarded Tazuna on the bridge and Kakashi continued to regain his strength. Leading up to the current night, as they all sat around the dinner table.

Kakashi was finally back to full strength and had informed them that he would start guarding Tazuna as well as the rest of them since they had all completed the tree climbing exercise.

Now found everyone sitting in the dining area after having just eaten dinner.

Naruto was sitting with his head lying on the table in his arms, still exhausted from the days training. Sasuke was finishing his food since he had gone to shower before dinner, and Ino was sitting in her chair listening to Kakashi talk to Tazuna.

Jagaa was off to the side sharpening his sword with a stone Kyougu had given him in an attempt to cut down on the amount of work he would have to do the next time Jagaa brought him his sword.

Inari though was staring hard at Naruto who was still dirty and tired from training. His thoughts going back to the loved one he had lost to Gatoh. The one who said he would protect him and the village. His father, even if they did not share the same blood.

Inari had thought his father was strong, but he wasn't. He was weak and he was killed for it. These people would die as well. Why try? Why train? It was pointless and only served to infuriate him.

"Why?" He said, making everyone look at him. "Why are you all trying so hard? Even if you train you'll never beat Gatoh, he's to strong. Weak people will always lose to the strong, so why are you even trying." He said angrily as he continued to stare at Naruto.

Naruto looked at the little boy for a moment before he put his head back down. "Shut up brat, we're not like you. We don't give up like that."

"DON"T TELL ME TO SHUT UP." Inari yelled as tears began to force themselves out. "What would you know about it? All of you who come from a nice village and live your happy lives. What would any of you know about suffering and pain?"

Naruto's tensed and his head rose slightly, Sasuke froze mid way to taking a bite his eyes growing hard, and Jagaa stopped sharpening his sword midway up the blade.

The tension that hung in the air even made Inari take notice.

"So you think your life is so god damned hard? Is that why you cry like the main character in some kind of tragedy? People like you should just go hide in a corner like the waste of space you are." Naruto's head rose and he glared at Inari. "YOU GOD DAMNED CRYBABY."

Inari's teary eyes widened in shock at Naruto's words, anger and sadness mixed in his mind making it impossible for him to even respond.

"N-Naruto?" Ino said in complete surprise at seeing the usually happy boy so angry.

Naruto didn't say anything; he simply got up from his seat and walked out of the room.

"You lost one person that you cared for. Try losing everyone you've ever cared for all at once. And try knowing that it was someone else you had cared for that killed them all." Sasuke said in a low and very angry voice before he got up and left through the same way Naruto did, leaving his food unfinished.

Jagaa re-sheathed his sword and headed towards the door that led out side. He didn't say a word as he left, but the extremely loud slamming of the door along with the sound of wood splintering showed his own anger at the little boy's words.

Everyone could only stare in silent shock at the way the boys had reacted, unable to even find the words to speak.

The only sound that still remained was Inari's soft crying.

X X X X X

If any one would have followed Jagaa after he left, their first thoughts after arriving at his destination would have been,

'What the fuck happened here.'

The area Jagaa had been using to train looked like, for lack of a better term, a battle field.

Shuriken were sunk in deeply to nearly every tree and a large portion of the ground. The trees that weren't covered in Shuriken had slashes, gashes, holes, and dents. Some of the trees had fallen over from the devastation to there trunks. There were burn marks and wood splinters every where. Even the ground was scorched and looked like it had been ripped apart by a tractor or two.

Jagaa walked into the middle of the destruction and sat down on the ground, looking at the night sky still rather pissed off at the little boy.

"Little bastard, if only he knew." He said out loud.

Jagaa continued to lie on the forest floor, his anger slowly draining away. But it wasn't until he caught site of the full moon shining through the branches that it faded completely. It was one of the few things that could always calm him.

Because of whom it reminded him of.

"Tomorrows the day that Kakashi-sensei says that we will have to start worrying about Zabuza showing up again." Jagaa said to the moon shining over head.

"I can't keep this up you know. I can't keep fighting the way I have been since I met Naruto. I know you think it's some kind of excuse but it isn't. The truth is that I can't win the way I am now." Jagaa took a long breath and released it slowly.

"Do you think their ready to see what I have kept hidden behind my mask? I wanted to show them a little at a time just who and what I was, and still am. But with my past finding me this fast, that won't be possible anymore."

Jagaa's rage slowly started to build again. But this was not some sudden and irrational rage. No, this was a rage that had been building inside him for years. A rage he was doing everything in his power to stop Sasuke from experiencing lest it consume him the way it had consumed Jagaa.

The rage of an 'Avenger'.

"Gatoh will pay for what he did to you. You were the first person that gave me a reason to want to keep living, and he stole you from me. I know you wouldn't approve, but it's too late for me to turn back. I hope you can forgive me."

Jagaa's mood began to change again as he continued to drink in the radiance of the moon. But it was clear that it wasn't peace he was feeling this time as the moon's soft glow reflected off the single tear that fell from under the dark glasses.

"I miss you, Tsuki Nee-chan." He said softly.

Jagaa simply continued to watch the moon as it moved across the sky, all too soon being blocked out of sight by the dense branches of the trees.

The loss of the glowing orb managed to bring Jagaa back to his more current issues. He slowly stood up, and as he did, he placed his left hand on his right shoulder and slowly pulled it diagonally across his chest to just below his left rib cage.

"Soon all of them will know about me. The question is. Will they be able to handle it?"

X X X X X

"So we're going without them?" Sasuke asked Kakashi as they walked away from Tazuna's house.

"Well Naruto probably wont be able to move much today since he pushed his body so hard the other day, and Jagaa never came back last night so we don't even know where he is." Kakashi answered, his eyes becoming upside down U's from his smile. "Don't worry though, we might not have everyone but I don't think Zabuza will be attacking the exact day I recover, that would be one hell of a coincidence."

With that being said, Ino, Sasuke, Kakashi and Tazuna all continued on their way to the bridge.

X X X X X

A while later Inari and his mother Tsunami were alerted to the fact Naruto had woken up already.

"OH SHIT, I OVER SLEPT"

X X X X X

'_Well it seems it has been made perfectly clear that my luck fucking sucks._'

One could say Kakashi was a little put out at the fact Zabuza had decided to attack today. '_It's the first day after I recovered for crying out loud_.'

It just wasn't fair damn it.

As the mist began to set in Kakashi, Ino and Sasuke took their defensive positions around Tazuna.

"It looks like your missing some of your brats Kakashi." Zabuza's voice came from the mist. "And it seems you only brought the pathetic ones. The boys even shaking again."

With no warning the group was surrounded by Seven **Mizu Bunshins**.

Sasuke smirked.

"Go for it Sasuke." Kakashi said with a smile.

Sasuke pumped chakra into his legs for a major speed boost and in seconds had taken out all the clones around them.

"Hmmph, I was trembling in excitement ass hole, but that was just disappointing." Sasuke said while putting on his best smirk.

"Well it looks like the brats have gotten stronger. You two might actually have some fun." Zabuza said to the two at his side.

"So it would seem." Haku responded through his mask.

Tora, who hadn't worn his mask, didn't say anything and started walking to the side of the bridge were he just leaned against the rail.

"What are you doing?" Zabuza asked.

"My opponent isn't here yet, and I have no intentions of fighting anyone else." Tora replied.

"You can be so stubborn some times." Haku said.

Tora just shrugged.

"Well since your friend is too afraid to fight, I will just have to fight you." Sasuke called to Haku.

Haku focused back on Sasuke. "Indeed, here I come." With that Haku began spinning rapidly directly at Sasuke.

Sasuke watched Haku's approach carefully and blocked the attack when it came. Now they stood weapon to weapon, one with a kunai the other with a senbon needle.

Jumping back from each other, Sasuke pulled out a second kunai and threw it at Haku's chest who easily avoided it. Haku put on a burst of speed and got behind Sasuke trying to sink a needle into Sasuke's back. Sasuke dodged the attack and turned making a backward slash trying to get Haku in the stomach. Haku jumped to the side and also made a turn to once again attack Sasuke's blind side but Sasuke had completed his spin and saw the attack coming and was able to defend with a Kunai. Now they stood locked in place, weapon against weapon once again.

From the sidelines Tora watched with a slightly bored expression. '_Damn it, Haku's to nice for this kind of life. This fight would be over with if Haku would quit trying not to kill the opponent and get serious._'

Kakashi watched along with Ino and Tazuna the fight between the two. He told Ino to stay back and guard Tazuna and let Sasuke deal with Haku.

Ino replied with an 'OK' but inside her mind she was raging. '_Damn it, why do I always have to stay back and guard the old man. I can fight. I'm not Sakura for fucks sake._'

"You're better than I thought." Haku said to Sasuke who gave a smirk. "However, I am already two steps ahead of you."

"How do you figure?" Sasuke asked as he tried to overpower the other ninja.

"First off is all the water on the ground from those clones you destroyed. And the second is that I am now keeping one of your hands busy." Haku said. Then raising the hand that was not trying to overpower Sasuke began making one handed seals.

"**Sensatsu Suisho**" Haku called out. The water on the ground around them shot into the air and formed hundreds of Ice needles. Once complete they flew from the sky directly at Sasuke. Haku jumped backwards to avoid the rain of ice just before it slammed into the targeted area.

Haku had no time to celebrate though as Sasuke's axe kick aimed to the head came from above forcing Haku to block. To bad Haku was not able to block the follow through kick to the chest and was now lying on the ground several yards away.

"You're rather slow." Sasuke said to the sprawled out Haku.

If everyone hadn't been so focused on the fight they may have noticed the slight killing intent directed at Sasuke that had started to leak out of Tora at the moment Haku had hit the ground.

Haku turned and started to slowly get up. Or at least that's how it appeared. No one saw that one hand was once again forming seals, hidden beneath Haku's body, or the four new ice needles that appeared from a puddle just off to the side until they were already flying at Sasuke.

"SASUKE" Kakashi yelled out too late.

Sasuke looked over to see the needles coming strait for his head. They were to close to dodge, and he knew it. All he could do was watch as the instruments of his death closed the distance.

The sight of the four shuriken smashing into the ice needles and knocking them off course and out of the air mere inches from Sasuke's face caused everyone to stare in dumbfounded surprise.

Kakashi, Ino, Sasuke, Tazuna, even Haku and Zabuza were still staring at the shuriken that now lay next to four small puddles of water when Tora's voice cut through their confusion.

"It's not polite to keep people waiting on you, you know."

Out of the mist Jagaa's figure slowly made its approach.

From the moment he saw him, Kakashi noticed was that there was something different about Jagaa. His movements seemed so…predatory.

His walk seemed casual, but even Kakashi could not find an unguarded spot on his body. He was completely relaxed and yet completely aware of everything around him. But what was actually managing to make even Kakashi slightly nervous was the aura that was coming off his student. It was an aura that was filled with the promise of pain...blood…and death. Kakashi could honestly say he had met very few experienced ninja who could put off this kind of aura, much less a fourteen year old boy.

"Sorry, if I'd known you were so impatient I would have come earlier." Even his voice seemed different. It was lower, more mature…more dangerous.

Tora pulled away from his place of leaning on the rail and started to walk towards Jagaa. The excitement that was shining in his eyes was clear to everyone. That excitement turned to anger when Zabuza's arm shot in front of him, blocking his path.

"What are you doing?" Tora asked in a very pissed voice.

"Let' just make sure he is actually worth your time with a little test first shall we." Zabuza made a hand seal.

Ten Zabuza **Mizu Bunshins** appeared in front of the still advancing Jagaa.

Jagaa neither faltered nor slowed, he simply continued to walk to where the clones stood blocking his path. About ten feet away from them, his hand reached behind him to his sword. A second later he was behind them, his sword halfway exposed as he slid it back into its sheath, the click of it setting in place perfectly coinciding with the splashing of the fallen clones.

"Tests are fine, but could you try not to insult me next time." Jagaa said then looking at Kakashi. "I do have to thank you for the training though Kakashi-sensei, without it that might have taken a minute or so." Jagaa's voice stayed low and relaxed the whole time.

Everyone save one person was slightly stunned at the speed Jagaa had just put out. Both Sasuke and Haku, who were no slowpokes themselves, had barely managed to keep up with his movements. In fact they had even missed a few of them. The only people who had actually seen everything that had happened were Kakashi, Zabuza, and the red clad teenager currently walking strait at Jagaa.

"I knew I was right about you. You were holding back the whole time weren't you." Tora said as he walked. His double bladed weapon held casually at his side in one hand.

"Not so much holding back, as denying my nature I would say." said the still advancing Jagaa.

"So I finally get to see the real you then, eh." Tora's hand shifted on his weapon.

Jagaa answered by moving his hand to his sword once again.

The two finally stopped when they were both less than ten feet from the other.

"I haven't gotten your name yet have I? Mine is Tora" Tora said casually

"Jagaa." Jagaa answered just as casually, his hand still at his sword.

"Really!? Ha ha, what a coincidence. Two people with the name of a predator trying to kill each other. Its kind of funny isn't it."

The conversation between the two could almost have been taken for being a friendly one. Well, if it wasn't for the intense desire to kill coming out of them that is.

Tora raised his weapon slightly higher and slightly angled across his lower abdomen putting his other hand on the handle in a ready stance, the eagerness in his smile and black eyes clearly evident.

"Let's enjoy this shall we."

**A/N:** Well here is the sixth chapter. I wasn't planning on ending it were I did. I had wanted to start out with a small bout between Jagaa and Tora and end it after that. But I realized if I kept going then I wouldn't be able to stop, making this one hell of a long chapter. But on the bright side I know how I am going to start the next chapter, and that is usually the hardest part so it might not take as long to get the next chap up.

Oh and no, that killing aura that was making Kakashi a bit nervous is not what scared the Hokage before. You will all finally get to find out about that, along with other things about Jagaa, in the next chapter. And no, he will not get some kind of super power boost. Once again, you will understand in the next chapter.

Now if everyone who reads this would please leave a review (good or bad), then I shall not be forced to follow as my penname suggests and unleash the Kyuubi upon you all.


	7. Bloody Revelations

**A/N:** You know I just realized that I have never once said thank you to everyone at once for the reviews I have gotten. I usually try to reply to the reviews individually but I have probably missed a few.

So this is me saying thank you to everyone who has read or reviewed my story. I hope I can continue to please.

Any way, before you read this chap. you should know that I am going to be getting rather bloody and adult in the chaps to come. No lemons mind you because I absolutely suck at them, but I think the perverts out there will be at least somewhat satisfied. There isn't any perversion in this chapter, only violence, but it will start to appear later. You have all been warned. NOW ON WITH THE STORY!!!

**Disclaimer:** Jagaa is mine. So is Tora. Hell even Kyougu is mine as well as any other OC's I will have along the way. However Naruto and all other characters from the anime/manga are not. If that don't make it clear then you should go play in traffic seeing as you are one of the world's problems.

**Chapter 7:** Bloody Revelations

"_I haven't gotten your name yet have I? Mine is Tora" Tora said casually_

"_Jagaa." Jagaa answered just as casually, his hand still at his sword._

"_Really!? Ha ha, what a coincidence. Two people with the name of a predator trying to kill each other. Its kind of funny isn't it."_

_The conversation between the two could almost have been taken for being a friendly one. Well, if it wasn't for the intense desire to kill coming out of them that is._

_Tora raised his weapon slightly higher and slightly angled across his lower abdomen putting his other hand on the handle in a ready stance, the eagerness in his smile and black eyes clearly evident._

"_Let's enjoy this shall we."_

X X X X X

Blade crashed against blade as the two began their fight, Jagaa bringing his in a downward diagonal slash and Tora blocking with one side of his own weapon.

Pushing against the blade with his own and knocking Jagaa's sword back slightly to give him space Tora brought the other end of his weapon around to slice through Jagaa's waist. He was almost taken off guard when Jagaa flipped sideways into the air, his head barley passing over the moving blade, and did his own slash for Tora's midsection.

Jumping back to avoid being cut in half, Tora spun around and tried to strike Jagaa while he was still in the air. Jagaa blocked the incoming attack with his sword and actually used the blade like a pivot point to finish his flip faster. Landing in a crouch Jagaa leapt forward and slashed up and across going under Tora's guard and forcing the other boy to jump back again to avoid the strike. Without pausing Jagaa reached into his pouch and grabbed a single shuriken then threw it at an angle at the ground.

Tora was trying to figure out why Jagaa would do something so useless, when he found himself barely avoiding the flying by weapon by turning sideways and jumping back after it bounced off the ground and went strait at his heart. Tora had never even heard of someone using a shuriken like that, much less seen it. It was like a kid skipping a stone on water.

Tora was quickly brought back to the fight when Jagaa threw three more shuriken. One flew strait at Tora as the other two seemed to branch off in different directions. Tora jumped out of the way of the one coming strait at him and braced for the attack he was sure Jagaa was about to make. He was slightly surprised when he saw Jagaa had made not movement since he had thrown his shuriken. Tora was about to make his own attack when the sound of flying blades made him turn around just in time to see the two already thrown shuriken had somehow circled around and were going strait for his back. Moving on reflex alone he threw himself off to the side.

'_How in the hell did he get the shuriken to come back like that._' Tora wondered as he hit the ground.

He rolled and got into a crouch when his instincts made him raise his weapon over his head, barley stopping the vertical slash that would have split his head in half. Pushing hard against the other blade Tora made a quick turn and mad a low slash trying to take off Jagaa's legs. His blade passed through thin air as Jagaa had already jumped away and was now calmly standing a good fifteen feet away.

Tora rushed in, his weapon held low and ready to strike. Just before he got to Jagaa he jumped into the air and started spinning his body rapidly, his weapon twisting around him like a barrier. As he got came down at Jagaa he used his spin to add power to his strike and aimed for the top of Jagaa's head, fully intending to slice him in half vertically.

He was shocked when Jagaa neither raised his sword to block nor tried to jump out of the way. Instead he calmly watched the incoming blade until it was dangerously close to his body before suddenly stepping to the side and letting it pass by his body within inches and smash into the concrete.

His shock turned to panic as Jagaa's sword came slicing through the air and strait for his neck. Tora managed to jump back again just in time to avoid being decapitated but not soon enough to avoid the shallow cut he took to his chest from the slight rise of his body from the jump. He landed a ways back, clutching his chest with one hand and holding the middle of his weapon with the other.

"Hey," Jagaa suddenly called out. "You said your name was Tora right?"

"Yeah," Tora said carefully "Why?"

"Well you see there's this cat named Tora in our village that is always running away. In fact we've had to catch the fucking thing twenty-seven times already on D ranked missions. I was just thinking how much I would love to skin that little hell spawn."

Tora wasn't quite sure what Jagaa was getting at, but for some reason he found himself wishing he was named absolutely anything other than Tora at the moment.

X X X X X

Sasuke and Haku had both taken a break from their own battle and were watching in disbelief at the battle going on between their two teammates.

Haku watched as Tora and Jagaa fought their high paced battle. It had taken only a brief exchange in the beginning for Haku to realize something Tora probably had not.

Tora was going to lose.

Jagaa was calm and collected. His every action from attack to defense seemed to yell experience and professionalism, calmly observing his opponent and waiting for the opportunity to strike. Tora was good, but he would eventually let his emotions and the heat of battle take over his more cautious side. That would mean he would make more mistakes and that would be all Jagaa needed to end the fight.

Haku was just about to jump in to help Tora when three kunai, thrown by Sasuke who had remembered he had his own fight to finish, made Haku jump to the side to avoid getting hit in the chest.

Using the surprise Sasuke launched a kick aimed for Haku's face, but Haku leaned back and twisted around to avoid the blow. Haku tried to hit Sasuke with a few senbon needles but found that Sasuke wasn't were he had been a moment before. The pain of the blow to the lower back told Haku just where Sasuke had disappeared to.

Pushing up from the pavement once again, Haku looked back at a smirking Sasuke. "Looks like you forgot that you still had to deal with me."

"Indeed, and it appears I don't have as much time to deal with you as I thought. I didn't want to use this technique since I was trying not to kill you, but it seems I have no choice." A blue aura started to seep out of Haku feeling like extremely cold air. Haku made a hind sign and called out, "**Makyo Hyo Sho**"

Sasuke found himself trapped in a dome made of what looked like mirrors made of ice. Focusing his gaze on Haku, Sasuke was shocked to see the Kiri nin begin to merge into one of the ice mirrors itself. Once inside images of Haku began to show up on every other mirror, leaving Sasuke with no idea where the real one may be.

"This is my Kekei Genkai. There is no escape now that I have you in here." Haku said as every image raised a three senbon needles clutched in a fist at once. Before Sasuke had even fully registered just what was happening he was being hit from all sides with flying senbon needles.

Sasuke screamed in pain as he dropped to the ground, blood flowing from various places on his body, some places still having senbon lodged in the skin.

Sasuke managed to get to his feet and in a desperate attempt to escape the dome of ice started making hand seals.

"**Katon: Goukakyuu No Jutsu**" Sasuke launched his fireball at the mirrors hoping the ice would be melted away by the heat. When the fire died and Sasuke saw that nothing had happened to the ice besides making little drops of water on it.

"These ice mirrors are filled with my chakra." Haku said from one of the mirrors. "You will never destroy them with such a weak fire based attack." Haku went on the attack again, hitting Sasuke from all sides with more Senbon Needles.

Once again Sasuke found him elf completely unable to defend against the attack. Doing the only thing he could think of to survive he did every thing he could to protect his vitals with the rest of his body. Screaming in pain once again from the assault Sasuke fell to the floor, and this time it looked like he wouldn't be able to get up.

"You have fought very well." Haku said and slowly leaned out from one of the mirrors in order to make a more accurate attack. "I am sorry that I must kill you, but I have people to protect." Haku prepared to launch the finishing attack.

"SO DO I ASS HOLE"

That was the only thing Haku heard before the feeling of being punched solidly in the side of the head. After being thrown out of the mirror and rolling a few times, Haku dazedly sensed the incoming kunai and jumped back just in time to avoid being hit. After recovering from the shock of the surprise attack, Haku looked into the ice dome to see the blue clad Naruto standing protectively over Sasuke.

"You're late Naruto." Naruto, Sasuke and Haku all looked to where the voice had come from. Jagaa, who was still fighting Tora, looked over and gave him a small grin before turning his attention back to his opponent.

"Sorry Nii-san," Naruto called out "I got held up."

"Well it's nice to see you dobe, I guess late is better than never." Sasuke had finally gathered the strength he needed to stand up again. It seemed no matter what the situation Naruto could always put some fight back into the Uchiha.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were going to get your ass kicked this badly without me watching your back teme." Naruto gave Sasuke a smirk that the raven haired boy could be proud of.

Sasuke could only let out a small chuckle at Naruto's attitude and smirk. The chuckle died quickly when he saw Haku start to merge into the ice once again.

"You managed to catch me completely by surprise." Haku said to Naruto "Unfortunately you are now trapped in my technique as well."

Naruto and Sasuke acted quickly and placed themselves back to back, each pulling out two kunai in hopes of deflecting at least some of the soon to come assault.

"You realize it was a mistake to come in here right?" Sasuke asked his blonde companion.

"Yeah, I was just starting to think the same thing." Naruto said back over his shoulder.

"Well since you're here anyways, want to help me kick mask boys ass."

"Depends, what do you think are chances are?"

"With the two of us working together…I'd say slim to none."

"Well if it's going to be that easy."

Despite the obvious danger they were in, neither boy could keep from grinning at the almost exact replay of the conversation before the fight with Zabuza.

Haku attacked.

X X X X X

Kakashi had finally had enough. He had known he needed to help Sasuke for a while now, but with Zabuza standing in front of him saying that he would kill Ino and Tazuna if Kakashi tried to get past him, Kakashi had little choice but to wait.

Silently he had hoped that Jagaa would be able to finish of his opponent quickly, and at first it looked like he would, but now Tora seemed to have realized he was up against a skilled opponent and had started attacking more carefully. So it looked like Jagaa would be taking longer than expected.

The fact that he needed to jump in was solidified when Naruto appeared on the scene and promptly ended up trapped inside the ice mirrors along with Sasuke. Now that the situation had gotten even further out of hand Kakashi knew he had to save them some how, and since he couldn't go around Zabuza to get to them, eh would have to go through him.

"I think its time we get started Zabuza, I going to have to finish you quickly in order to help my students. I really don't want to deal with a pissed off Jagaa if I let anything happen to those two." Kakashi reached up and prepared to uncover his Sharingan.

Zabuza instantly took to the attack, aiming a kunai strait for Kakashi's yet to be exposed eye. Kakashi stopped the knife by bringing his other hand up and taking the blow through it.

"Sharingan, how unoriginal," Zabuza spat contemptuously "You should probably know I have already figured out a way to beat it."

"Then why are you acting so afraid of it." Kakashi said as he finished uncovering his eye.

Zabuza jumped back away from the copy nin and formed a few seals. "**Kirigakure No Jutsu**"

The surrounding mist began to get even denser after Zabuza called out the technique. Slowly the Kiri nin disappeared from Kakashi's sight. A slight disturbance in the air was all the warning Kakashi got before he had to dodge the giant cleaver that was coming down at his head.

"If you can't see me you can't read my movements with that eye of yours. Also by keeping my own eyes closed I eliminate the risk of being caught in one of its genjutsus when I close in to attack." Zabuza's disembodied voice said from the dense mist.

"If you can't see either then how does it help you?" Kakashi said as he readied a kunai to defend himself.

"Have you forgotten Kakashi, I am an expert in silent killing techniques. I don't need to be able to see you to find you."

As soon as that was said Zabuza appeared directly in front of Kakashi his cleaver already swinging. Kakashi tried to jump out of the way but wasn't fast enough as the giant cleaver managed to put a long gash across his chest.

Kakashi panted from the pain as he readied himself for the next attack. He knew that this was going to be more difficult than he had first thought. Now he could only pray that his students could hold on until he finished off Zabuza and could come to their aid.

X X X X X

Naruto and Sasuke stood in the middle of the dome of ice panting heavily and bleeding from several places. Their injuries could have been much worse but Naruto had been using **Kage Bunshin** in an attempt to attack all the mirrors at once and also making extras to serve as a kind of human shield and take most of Haku's initial attacks before the remaining needles could start hitting Sasuke and the real Naruto. The tactic was keeping them alive since Haku had to deal with all the attacking clones before focusing on the defending ones, but it was also quickly starting to take its toll on Naruto despite his impressive stamina.

Sasuke knew that Naruto could not keep up the pace he was going for very much longer, and despite that he was sure that Haku was also using up chakra, Naruto was going through it faster. This had left Sasuke straining his eyes hoping to catch even the slightest glimpse of Haku and make some kind of counter attack.

It was as the situation started to appear hopeless that he saw it. It was faint, but Sasuke was sure he saw a slight blur of movement from one mirror to another. He looked to Naruto who, while clearly exhausted, was just about to make more clones to attack and defend and decided to try to use the chance to catch Haku off guard.

Straining his eyes for all they were worth Sasuke watched, doing his best to follow Haku's attack pattern. He watched as the blur moved from mirror to mirror, taking out a clone with every exchange, barely registering that Naruto had fallen to the ground beside him from exhaustion. When there was only one clone left for Haku to destroy Sasuke made his move.

"**Katon Goukakyuu No Jutsu**" He yelled as he launched his attack strait in direction the blur would be going. The fire seemed to miss entirely as Haku appeared unhurt inside the mirrors once again. But on closer inspection Sasuke saw a singe on the end of Haku's cloths at his feet.

'_Which means the blur really is him, I can see him. That means I can attack him._' Sasuke thought in triumph.

Haku looked down at the now singed clothing in disbelief. '_Can he see me? That's not possible, it had to have been luck._' Reassured somewhat Haku made to attack again launching a large amount of Senbon needles strait at Sasuke and the fallen Naruto.

'_I see them._' Sasuke thought when he saw the incoming weapons. Grabbing the prone Naruto he leapt out of the way of the rain of needles. Coming down off to the side and gently setting Naruto back down.

'_Impossible_' Haku thought in disbelief and launched another rain of needles at Sasuke.

Sasuke quickly pulled out a kunai and blocked all the incoming needles before grabbing a few off the ground and throwing them strait back at Haku who almost didn't move in time due to the shock of the accurate attack.

'_How is this possible, there is no way he should be able to see me…unless._' Taking a closer look at Sasuke, Haku finally saw it.

Sasuke's eyes had both turned from pitch black to blood red. In one eye was a single tomoe, while in the other there were two.

'_I see, he has activated his Kekei Genkai, the Sharingan. Though it isn't complete, to be able to awaken a bloodline limit in the middle of battle is impressive._' Haku thought the situation over carefully while deciding how to best attack next. '_Now that he has the Sharingan he is able to see my movements enough to block my attacks…However._' Haku looked over to the still prone form of Naruto. '_There may be a way to make him take the hit._' With that thought Haku attacked.

'_HE'S GOING AFTER NARUTO!_' Sasuke's frantic mind yelled at him. Using all the chakra he could force into his legs he only thought being to save his best friend.

X X X X X

Tora was panting heavily from his battle with Jagaa. He had finally realized after a few exchanges that Jagaa was a lot better than Tora had believed. He had been able to tell that Jagaa was not fighting to his full abilities before but he did not know that Jagaa also seemed to have an incredible amount of experience for his seeming age. Tora was no stranger to battle, but he had never managed to become as professional about it as his opponent seemed to be.

Even Tora had to admit now that the battle so far had been decidedly one sided. Yes, Tora had managed to get a few small cuts in, but they had more been to Jagaa's cloths instead of skin, and usually they were because Jagaa had waited a little longer than he needed too before dodging an attack. The thing that really had Tora worried though, was that Jagaa seemed to enjoy seeing how close he could let death come, before barely moving past its grasp.

When the mist had suddenly began to thicken Tora, having fought in this type of condition before, started to feel and enormous sense of relief since he was sure he would now have the upper hand. That was quickly proven false when Jagaa began to attack him out of nowhere, seeming just as at home in the mist as any Kiri Nin.

Tora heard the incoming shuriken and jumped back to avoid them. He was forced to block with his double bladed weapon as more shuriken came at him from the side. Just as he landed Tora barely turned in time to block the sword swipe that was supposed to take his head off.

Breathing heavily and doing his best to stay calm, Tora called out to the surrounding mist. "How is it that you can fight so well in this mist when you can't see your opponent? You seem to be almost as skilled as Zabuza at it."

"For reasons that are none of your concern, for a long time I would only move about at night. Naturally that means that any fighting I did was also at night. When you've spent as much time fighting in the dark as I have a little mist is nothing to daunting." The response ghosted out.

It made sense, if someone fought in the dark all the time. Then the low visibility of the mist would be nothing new. Once again Tora could only be amazed at how much experience his opponent seemed to have.

Tora couldn't think about it much more when he heard the sound of incoming shuriken. He was surprised when it was only one that came flying towards him from the mist. He moved his weapon up in order to block when the shuriken puffed into smoke and Jagaa was in its place, his sword already moving.

Tora's shock made it impossible for him to block the attack completely and felt the blade sink into his shoulder. With a painful howl and a supreme effort he tried to push Jagaa back and get the blade away before it could sink in anymore. He was once again surprised when Jagaa quickly jumped up and backwards away from Tora with a slight smirk. Before Tora could even try to figure out what Jagaa was smirking about, he cried out in pain again as the shuriken that had been coming strait at him from _behind Jagaa_ cut deeply into his thigh.

'_What the hell did he do, how did the shuriken come from behind him?_'

Jagaa walked calmly forward from the mist, his black hoodie had sustained quite a few cuts through it, to the point that it looked like it could be easily ripped off, and a few slightly darker and wet spots on the black, and a bit of blood showing on his hand showed that he had taken a few minor hits but he seemed completely unaffected by them. He looked down to where the shuriken had struck and let out a slightly annoyed sigh. "I still can't figure out how to keep the aim the same as it was originally. That should have gone through your neck not your leg." He said.

"How did you do that?" Tora asked even as he tried to fight off the pain he was feeling from his wounds.

"I really don't feel like telling you, especially since once your dead it won't matter anyway." Jagaa said as he continued forward. "But before you die I will say that I was disappointed. You said 'Let's enjoy this' but I was a bit bored most of the time."

Tora would have growled at the other boy if he wasn't in so much pain from being cut up. Then there was the fact that, even though he didn't want to admit it, he knew that he was not as good as Jagaa seemed to be.

As Jagaa moved in to make the kill, the air was suddenly filled with an almost suffocating chakra. The chakra was one of pure malevolence and evil, promising certain death upon all who encountered it.

'_Naruto_' Jagaa didn't know how, but he knew that the chakra he was feeling had something to do with Naruto. Forgetting about Tora he turned his body to look in the direction that the feeling was coming from.

'_I just hope they are both all right._'

X X X X X

Ino was now beyond pissed. She had had every intention of going to Naruto and Sasuke's aid as soon as Kakashi started fighting Zabuza. But with the appearance of the mist she could no longer see where anyone was. She still had a good idea about were the two she wanted to help were, but she had no idea were Jagaa and Tora along with Kakashi and Zabuza were at. The sounds of metal striking metal was all around her moving from one place to the other, even if she tried to go to Naruto and Sasuke she ran a high risk of getting right in the middle of either Jagaa or Kakashi's fight.

As she continued to rack her brain furiously trying to figure out a way to get to her two teammates without getting in the middle of the fights of her other two, she was overwhelmed by the feeling of a terrible chakra that filled the air.

She dropped to her knees, trying vainly to fight off the disgusting feeling that threatened to overwhelm her. Thoughts of the teammates she couldn't reach racing though her mind.

'_Please let them all be safe._' She silently pleaded.

'_Please let Naruto be safe._'

X X X X X

It was warm, and wet, what was it he had just felt hit his face? Naruto wasn't sure but it was serving to pull him back from his exhausted unconsciousness.

He slowly opened his eyes and painfully lifted his hand to his face. '_Blood? But it's not mine. Whose is it then?_' Naruto raised his head and was shocked when he saw the guy in the hunter nin mask laying against an ice mirror several yards away.

'_What happened, did Sasuke get him… SASUKE!!_' Naruto raised his head higher and looked frantically for his friend. He didn't have to look to far as Sasuke was standing almost directly in front of him. Naruto could feel the relief that flowed out of his body when he saw his best friend was okay. Naruto put on a tired grin as he spoke.

"Looks like you got him eh Sasuke…huh, Sasuke." Naruto's grin fell off when he saw the blood that had started pooling at Sasuke's feet. Raising his hand to his face again, Naruto remembered just what it had been that had woken him up.

"Hey dobe, glad to see…you woke up." Sasuke's tired voice was laced with both amusement and pain.

As Naruto stared at his friend who stood bleeding in front of him, his mind started to slowly place the pieces in place. It didn't take a genius to figure out just what Sasuke had done for him.

"S-Sa-Sasuke, please tell me you didn't." Naruto could barely make the words come out of his mouth.

"I…never did…thank you did I?" Sasuke was speaking in a low voice and his breathing sounded ragged. "I never thanked…you and Jagaa…for what you did for me." Sasuke slowly turned his head and looked down at Naruto, a small smile playing on his face. Then he slowly started to fall backward.

"SASUKE" Naruto yelled out as he caught his raven haired friend before he hit the ground.

Sasuke looked up into Naruto's sapphire blue eyes that shined with the tears that were barely being held back in the slim hope that they need not be shed. Sasuke couldn't help but continue to smile as he looked at the face of his whiskered best friend.

"I…lost everything once...I can still remember…the pain that came…from being alone…" Sasuke's smile faltered for only a moment as painful memories came back to him, but as soon as he focused on the blonde head above him, those memories of pain were replaced by the memories of joy that that boy had given him.

"I lost my family…I was alone…but then you two came…and gave me…hope" Sasuke took a deep, ragged breath. "You took away…the pain…the sadness…and gave me life again……and another…family." Slowly Sasuke raised his hand.

Naruto couldn't stop the tears anymore as he clasped the hand of his best friend, his…

"Thank you…for everything...my friend……my …brother…" Sasuke let out one last smile, before falling into the darkness.

Naruto felt Sasuke's hand go limp in his. "S-Sasuke" He wouldn't believe it. "Sasuke wake up. This isn't funny damn it." He felt the tears falling, he couldn't see Sasuke breathing any more, couldn't feel his heart beat. He knew, he knew Sasuke was gone. He wanted to yell to scream, but his throat was shut from grief and all he could do was cry.

"That boy" Naruto's head snapped at the voice of the kiri-nin. "He was able to jump into an obvious trap in order to protect a precious person. He was truly strong." The masked ninja started to merge once again into the mirrors. "I am sorry."

"Shut up" Naruto's voice was barely above a whisper, but the pain and fury behind it was more than clear. "You bastard, you killed him. You killed my best friend, you killed Sasuke." Naruto's body started to let out a menacing red chakra. The chakra swirled around him and Haku was filled with a sense of terror at the sight of the malevolent chakra that seemed to thirst for blood.

But what terrified the masked nin the most was that when Naruto lifted his head, his eyes had turned crimson red and the pupils had become slit. His demon like eyes were staring at Haku with fury and desire to kill radiated off him.

'Naruto's crimson eyes locked on to Haku's masked face "**I'LL KILL YOU**" His voice had become deep and animalistic. With his yell Naruto charged so fast that Haku barely managed to get to a different mirror before it was destroyed.

Haku fired as many Senbon as possible at the enraged Naruto. With a roar Naruto sent out a powerful blast of red chakra, blasting every needle away.

"How about this?" Haku yelled and shot from a mirror directly above Naruto. Naruto jumped out of the way and let Haku hit the ground with the attack. After missing, Haku desperately tried to get back into the mirrors but just before Haku could get into one, Naruto grabbed Haku's arm and held it while using his other arm to deliver a massive blow strait to Haku's face. Haku was sent smashing through one of the mirrors of ice and bouncing and rolling on the ground from the attack. After finally coming to a stop on the ground, the mask cracked from the force of the attack.

Haku slowly started to get up, pieces of the mask falling away with every movement. Naruto charged at seeing Haku rising, fully intending to finish off the kiri nuke-nin.

Haku had gotten to a standing position and was now watching the charging Naruto, the mask having fallen halfway off was still peeling away.

'_Zabuza san, Tora, I can not defeat this boy. Please forgive me._' Haku saw Naruto pull back his fist to deliver the killing blow as he charged forward. '_I only wish…_' the last of Haku's mask fell as Naruto finished closing the distance between them and threw his punch.

X X X X X

Kakashi was suddenly hit with a very unforgettable feeling. Fearing the worst he turned in the direction the horrible chakra was coming from.

'_Has the seal broken?_' The worried thought ran through his head. He continued to try to reach out with his senses. '_No it seems to have just weakened, there is still time_.'

Kakashi took out a scroll and smeared some blood from his open wound on across it as it unrolled.

"I think it's time we finish this Zabuza." He said as he rolled the scroll back up and formed a seal while still holding it before slamming it into the ground. "**Kuchiyose Doton Tsuiga No Jutsu**"

Deep in the mist Zabuza was trying to fight off the disgusting feeling that the strange chakra had given him when he heard Kakashi's challenge to finish their fight. He was sure that Kakashi was bluffing since there was no way that he could see in the mist. As he tried to figure out what Kakashi might be planning he felt and heard a slight rumble in the ground. Before he could react he was attacked and latched on to by eight different dogs that all shot out of the ground firmly locking him in place. Completely unable to move or get away, Zabuza watched as Kakashi approached until he was about ten meters away.

"This is what happens when you close your eyes while you fight. It leaves you open to attack. The technique I just used was a tracking technique. While we fought I took your attack twice and bled for each one in order to use this technique. Your weapons were covered in my blood making it easy for my cute nin dogs to find you." Kakashi gave a hard look to Zabuza as he glowered in rage and pain from being caught. "You played around to much Zabuza, now it's time to finish you off."

Kakashi made a few hand seals and then formed his right hand like a claw and started to gather chakra into it. The result was him holding what looked like a ball of lightning that was screaming and chirping like thousands of birds.

"**Raikiri**" Kakashi called out before focusing back on Zabuza. "You are to dangerous to let live Zabuza." Kakashi charged.

X X X X X

Naruto stood frozen in place, his fist inches away from Haku's face.

"It's you." He said as he looked in to the face of the person he had been talking to almost a week ago. So great was his shock that he was fighting the kind person that he had lost all the fury that had filled him at Sasuke's death. His eyes had returned to their normal blue as well as his other features becoming normal again.

"What are you doing? Where is that intensity that you were showing a moment ago? I killed one of your precious people didn't I. Why are you hesitating?" Haku asked Naruto. Haku's eyes seemed to have lost all the beauty and shine that Naruto had seen in them the first time they spoke.

Naruto looked back at Sasuke and than back to Haku, swearing loudly he punched the kiri nin in the face doing little more than knocking Haku over.

"That wont be enough to kill me." Haku said standing back up and facing Naruto again. "Do you not care for him as much as you claimed to?"

"Of course I do, but…you…" Naruto just couldn't bring himself to forget the soft smile and kind spirit that the person in front of him had shown when they talked alone in the forest.

"Showing compassion to an enemy is a foolish thing. I have killed one of your precious people but you still hesitate. Are you truly being compassionate of cruel?" Naruto was taken back by the last question as Haku went on. "I am no longer any use to my team. Zabuza has no need for weak tools and Tora will most likely die soon as well. That is why I am asking you to kill me."

Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You want to die just because you lost? That makes no sense."

"By loosing to you I lost my purpose in life. I have been proven to weak to protect those I hold dear. I am useless to them now. You have taken away my reason to live, so now I ask you to finish what you started." Haku looked into the saddened face of Naruto who could still barely believe what he was hearing. "Please" Haku's voice was laced with such sadness and loss that Naruto finally decided he truly would be doing the kiri nin a last service by fulfilling the request. It was with a heavy heart that Naruto pulled out a kunai from his pouch. The grateful smile that Haku gave him made him want to cry.

"I'm sorry." Was all Naruto could say before he charged forward.

Haku watched Naruto rush to deliver the merciful blow with a soft smile. But just before Naruto struck the sound of thousands of birds and the feeling that suddenly overcame Haku made the kiri nin grab the Naruto's and twist it away. '_Zabuza's in danger._'

"What are you…?" Naruto tried to ask.

"I'm sorry Naruto but it seemes I have one last thing I must do." With that Haku disappeared in a whirl of mist.

X X X X X

Tora looked at Jagaa who still stood with his back to him. The feeling of the awful chakra had finally died away. Tora was thinking that he might be able to launch a surprise attack on Jagaa when a new sound filled the air. It sounded like thousands of birds all chirping at once.

'_That's coming from where Zabuza was fighting. Zabuza's in danger and that means…_' Tora's eyes widened in fear '_HAKU_'.

Without a second thought Tora ran in the direction of the sound. Not even caring that Jagaa seemed to have remembered he was there and was following him. His desperation overriding all pain that his body should be feeling in his attempt to save the most important person in his life.

X X X X X

Kakashi and Zabuza were both staring in disbelief at the two on the ground in front of them. Neither one had been prepared in the slightest for what they had just witnessed.

Kakashi had been just about to ram his **Raikiri** through Zabuza's heart, when out of nowhere Haku had materialized directly in front of Zabuza fully intent on taking the hit. Kakashi had to much momentum to stop or redirect his attack and it was going to end up killing Haku when Tora slammed into Haku's side, knocking the other teen out of the way but taking the ball of energy strait to his already injured shoulder.

So dazed from the shock was Kakashi, that he let the energy in his hand disappear and his summoned dogs popped out of existence. Zabuza now being free could have used that time to attack, but he too was in a state of shock at seeing both his subordinates jumping into the line of fire for an attack that would have killed him. His own shock letting the mist he was holding in place with his chakra slowly dissipate.

Naruto and Ino who had missed what had happened because of the mist found themselves seeing Kakashi standing in front of all three kiri nuke-nin, two of whom were on the ground with one bleeding heavily from his shoulder, and Jagaa slowly walking up to the group from the side. Both remaining blondes quickly moved to where the large group now stood.

"TORA" Haku yelled out when seeing him kneeling on the ground with his hand clutched to his bleeding shoulder. "Why did you push me out of the way, why did you take the hit."

Tora looked at Haku with relief clearly showing in his eyes as he spoke. "I knew that if Zabuza was in danger that you would try to sacrifice yourself to save him. I couldn't let that happen." Tora's eyes never left Haku's as he spoke. "You're the most important person in the world to me. I couldn't lose you."

Kakashi and Zabuza, along with Naruto, Ino, and Jagaa who had all shown up for the declaration, stared in wonder at the exchange of the tow young kiri nin.

"Well," Jagaa's voice was the first to break through the silence "I have heard of some love confessions at some weird times, but this takes the cake." All the other's nodded, except for Naruto who looked like he was about to puke. "What the hells wrong with you?" Jagaa asked his heaving brother.

"B-b-but that's a guy, he told me so himself." Naruto said as he dry heaved.

This time it was Tora's turn to be shocked as he looked at Haku, who seemed to have found something very interesting to look at somewhere off to the side.

"You told him you were a guy?" Tora asked in disbelief and some amusement.

"Umm, yeah." Haku said as her face flushed with embarrassment.

"…Why?"

Haku didn't answer; she just flushed a deeper shade of red.

It was the loud crash of metal hitting metal that pulled everyone out of their stupor at the turn of events, and made them all look to where the sound had come from.

Zabuza's large blade was slanted down and lodged next to where Haku and Tora now sat and Jagaa's smaller blade was being held back by it. From the look of how Jagaa had attacked, it was obvious he was trying to kill both Haku and Tora while they spoke.

With a huge shove Zabuza threw back Jagaa and made a sweep for the boy's mid section. Jagaa let himself fall backwards so the huge blade would pass over him, then rolled to his feet and leapt at Zabuza with his blade extended to stab him. Zabuza turned to the side and let the blade pass by him and swung his own weapon back from the direction he had swung the first time and tried to hit Jagaa in the back. Jagaa pushed off the ground and shot forward beyond the reach of the giant blade. Quickly he threw three shuriken as he turned in the air aiming for where Zabuza's arm was about to be. Zabuza not being able to stop the momentum of his swing was hit in the right shoulder by all three shuriken, effectively disabling his arm.

"Jagaa, what are you doing?" Kakashi yelled after he finally got over the surprise of the attack Jagaa had made.

"Well since you all seemed to have forgotten that we are here to kill each other, I figured I would pick up were you left off." Jagaa said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "And since he used up so much energy fighting you, even I can take on Zabuza now."

Haku and Tora were still sitting on the ground neither one in any condition to fight. "Please don't kill Zabuza san." Haku yelled at Jagaa, the desperation in her voice was so evident that even Kakashi was sure he would stop when he heard it.

"Sorry, as it stands you are all my enemies. And I don't let enemies live to come back and cause problems later. The fact that we are fighting on this bridge when we already fought in the forest should be enough evidence as to why." Jagaa's tone was so cold that Naruto was almost sure that Jagaa had been replaced by someone else. He may have, if it were not for the memories of what had happened almost four years ago.

"With those two currently unable to fight, and you being so tired and now only having one arm to fight with, this battle is over." Jagaa said as he looked at Zabuza who was trying to effectively hold his giant cleaver with only his left hand. "Good bye." Jagaa made to move, when a voice in the distance froze him in place.

"Well it seems that the great 'Demon of the Mist' is about to be killed by a little boy. Ha ha ha, you're pathetic." At end of the incomplete bridge where the mist had just finally started to clear away stood Gatoh surrounded by at least a hundred hired thugs. "At least it makes things easier for me, now I won't have to do it myself ha ha ha."

"Kakashi, it would seem I no longer have any reason to fight with you all." Zabuza said to the masked nin who simple nodded. "It also means I am no longer your enemy." Jagaa made no movement even thought Zabuza had been looking at him when he said the last part.

"And did I hear that right. That the one who broke my arm is actually a girl. Well that is wonderful news. That means I can do so many things that I couldn't have done before to pay her back for the pain she caused me." Gatoh's grin was so disgusting that it made Ino want to puke, since she understood exactly what the evil little man was talking about.

"Well boys go get th……." Gatoh couldn't say anymore as he was now clutching his chest in terror at the feeling that had suddenly encased the entire bridge.

The group of both Kiri and Konoha nin were clutching their chest as well as the waves of the unidentified force washed over them.

Hatred, Rage, and Bloodlust, all mixed in to a huge desire to kill, but unlike before when the first feeling had come there was no evil in this feeling, only pure rage and killing desire. Both Haku and Kakashi looked to were Naruto was, both knowing where the first feeling had originally come from, and saw that Naruto also was on the ground trying to fight the killer emotions that were surrounding him.

But then as suddenly as it had come, the feeling disappeared as if drawn into a black whole of nothingness, and in its place, stood Jagaa.

'_It was him._' Kakashi couldn't believe it, that was nothing like the killing intent that had been coming off of him at the start of the fight. '_Is this what they had seen? Is this why they were so nervous about him?_' Kakashi was pulled out of his thoughts as a new sensation surrounded him.

Jagaa was there, but nothing else was. In his fights earlier he had kept his emotions in check, but now they seemed to be gone. His body seemed to be giving off an aura of ice and emptiness, nothing else. Nothing to mark him as human, just a cold, emotionless, machine like aura.

Nothing but the feeling of death.

"W-who are you?" The now recovering Gatoh asked the only still standing person on the bride.

Jagaa didn't answer but his hand slowly moved to the neck of his tattered hoodie. With a hard pull, the clothing ripped apart and fell around his feet. Everyone gasped at what the saw as the material fell away, revealing what it hid.

Scars.

His right arm had three jagged ones that ran from near his shoulder all the way to about midway on his forearm, perfectly parallel and seeming to have been torn through his skin rather than cut. Mid way between his right shoulder and his neck started a large scar that ran diagonally across his chest and ended just below his left rib cage. On the left side of his neck at the base was a smaller one that started at the base of his neck and continued strait down to mid way on his chest. Another started on the side of his left shoulder and went down and slightly around ending on his left tricep, and another that went down the entire length of his forearm from elbow to wrist. The last that could be seen started a bit bellow his right rib cage and continued strait down below his waistline.

Gatoh almost choked when he saw the boy pull off his shirt. Fear was rising in his heart so fast that he thought it was about to burst. "No, you can't be him." Gatoh yelled at the scared boy, "There is no way he could be alive, not with the bounty I put on him." Gatoh felt a small sense of comfort from his own words, at least until Jagaa started to reach for his glasses. When they were removed, Gatoh's heart almost stopped. He was only vaguely aware that his hired thugs had started to back away in fright at the sight before them.

Neither Konoha or Kiri nin could look away from the sight before them. When Jagaa had revealed his eyes, Haku had actually screamed. All others had almost chocked on their own fear at the sight.

Jagaa's eyes were not human. They were slits, surrounded by a dull green that was devoid of any warmth or glow and the parts that should have been white, were a dull yellow color.

But what had scared all those who saw them was not what they looked like, but that there was nothing behind them. There was no emotion, no life. They were soulless, seeming simply to exist.

On the other end of the bridge the thugs were all backing away in terror at the sight before them. They were considering running away when the terrified voice of Gatoh managed to make its way to their ears.

"Kill him now. I will pay one hundred million Ryou to who ever brings me his head."

Greed overcame fear as all the thugs looked at the scarred boy with a new determination. They were actually happy when they saw that Jagaa was starting to walk strait at them.

"Nii-san what are you doing?" Naruto yelled out as Jagaa started to move forward. Jagaa made no response and simply walked onward. As he passed everyone now was able to see the single scar that started by his left shoulder and ran all the way down his back and disappeared below the waist on the right side.

The thugs made no move to stop Jagaa as he walked strait into the large group, instead they planned to use their numbers to completely overwhelm the boy when he was surrounded by them. As soon as he was deep enough the closed off his only escape route and attacked.

X X X X X

'_I'm alive?_' Sasuke could feel the pain in his body as he slowly regained consciousness. He could barely move due to the pain of all the needles that were still sticking into his body.

'_How am I alive? Did that masked ninja miss my vitals?_' Sasuke slowly started to position his body in a way to allow him to try to stand. As he was moving he was hit with a feeling that he was all too familiar with.

Rage, desire to kill, a dead heart, and buried beneath it all so far down that most would never notice it, a sense of loss and heartache.

'_The same feelings I used to carry around all the time before I met Naruto and Jagaa. But these are coming from around me, not inside me. What is happening?_' Slowly he opened his eyes and looked ahead to where the intense feelings had been coming from.

He could see the Kiri and his teammates standing together, everyone of them with shocked and scared looks on their faces. Following their gaze he saw Jagaa slowly walking in to the middle of a large group of thugs who had just closed in around him.

The sights after that made him start to feel sick.

X X X X X

The large group of cut throats began to close in around Jagaa who didn't even seem to notice, he simply kept his dead gaze firmly locked on Gatoh. Despite the superior numbers on their side and the greed giving them courage, the men around Jagaa were still wary of approaching the scary eyed boy.

Finally one of the braver made the first move. Smirking heavily he started to walk up to Jagaa's side.

"Sorry kid, but we gotta kill you. That's just to much money to pas…" He was silenced by Jagaa's sword going strait into his open mouth and protruding out the back of his skull. Jagaa never even looked at the man, he simply continued to stare at the terrified Gatoh. Now though his eyes looked more alive as the joy of the kill coursed through his veins.

"G-get him." ­One of the other men yelled. Taking the yell as a cue, the men all started to attack at once.

The closest swung horizontally at Jagaa's chest. Jagaa ducked the swing and twisted around slicing completely through the mans middle. A moment later the man fell over as his body fell in two pieces.

Another man tried to hit Jagaa while he was crouched down. Jagaa caught the arm that came at him with his free hand and then proceeded to cut the mans arm off. The mans scream of pain was cut short as the sword came back around and sliced his throat open, while at the same time as killing the man, Jagaa used the severed arm to knock another incoming sword to the side.

Throwing the arm in the face of another attacker Jagaa used the distraction to bring his sword upwards between the mans legs. The blade didn't stop until it had come out of the top of the mans skull, leaving his body to fall sideways in two directions.

A spear came flying through the air strait for Jagaa, but ended up hitting another man that Jagaa pulled in front of him. Spinning with the pull Jagaa's sword passed through the neck of the thug who was closing in with his sword raised. As the thugs body fell forward, Jagaa grabbed the now severed head by the hair. Spinning around quickly he threw the head as hard as he could strait into the face of another man. There was a sickening crack as both heads collided and the other man fell over dead, his forehead caved in from the force of the blow.

Another spear flew through the air, Jagaa caught it mid flight and threw it back at the man it had come from. The weapon had so much force behind it that it not only passed through the man that had thrown it, but through another man who stood behind him as well.

Shocked by the violence and ferocity of the attacks, the surrounding men backed away in fear of the demon eyed boy. Jagaa had not once shown any emotion in the fight, but all of them could almost feel the satisfaction that came from the boy with every kill, even if his dead looking eyes suggested otherwise.

Jagaa took the halt in attacks as an opportunity to advance on the cringing Gatoh. With every step Gatoh could see death closing in on him.

Another of the braver men tried to jump in front of Jagaa, there was a quick flash of movement and the man fell into four different pieces. Without even bothering to look Jagaa walked strait through the body parts.

Three others started to rush Jagaa from the back, but before they had taken three steps all of them fell over dead as a shuriken impeded itself deep in each of their skulls.

No one else mad a move to stop Jagaa as he continued his unrelenting advance. Finally after what seemed like an eternity to all watching, Jagaa stopped directly in front of the terrified Gatoh. The bridge was as quiet as the graveyard it was becoming as everyone watched in a horrified stupor.

"Please, I'll give you anything you want. Money, women, power, whatever you want just name it." Gatoh begged his sweat coursing down his face as he stared into the demon like eyes before him.

Jagaa's voice was low and emotionless, but because of the silence that reigned, and the sound carrying effect of the left over mist, everyone was able to hear what Jagaa said.

"You took something from me once. I think that its time I returned the favor." The next thing anyone saw, was Jagaa's right hand fully embedded into the evil mans chest.

Gatoh screamed in pain as he clutched the arm that protruded from his chest but his scream turned into a gurgle as the blood filled his lungs. With a sharp twist and a pull Jagaa's arm came back out of Gatoh's body.

In his hand, he held Gatoh's still beating heart.

The sound of retching, and the smell of vomit filled the air as people lost the contents of their stomachs.

Jagaa raised the heart in front of him and watched as the thing gave a few final beats, before it finally stopped. If one were to look close enough, they would have seen a single tear fall down his cheek.

Without a word, Jagaa crushed the heart in his hand into pulp, and turned back to the remaining men, his arm hanging beside him still covered halfway up his forearm in blood.

"It's not enough." He said in a low voice. "I want more." Jagaa's head snapped up, his eyes were no longer the emotionless voids they had been, but were now filled with an unholy joy as he looked at the remaining thugs. "I want to kill more." His body became a blur and the sounds of dying screams filled the air.

X X X X X

None of the ninja present noticed Sasuke painfully walk up beside them. None of them noticed the small militia of villagers that had shown up with any weapon they could find, and were now retching off the side of the bridge at the sight before them.

All they saw was Jagaa as he cut and slashed through every body that was within his reach. Any that tried to escape by jumping off the bridge or running for the boat that they came on would have a shuriken embedded in either their head, throat, or heart before they could get out of range. Those that weren't so luck were being cut into pieces as Jagaa caught them. Some had even tried to run to were the other nin now stood, but they to fell as shuriken embedded themselves into the back of their skulls.

After what felt like an eternity, the screams stopped. The ninja, as well as all the villagers present, looked to Jagaa, who now stood in the middle of a mass of blood and body parts.

His eyes slowly found their way back to the group of Kiri nin. Without a word he charged them, his sword already swinging in the air. They had no time to move, no time to defend. They could only watch as the blade whistled through the air to claim their lives.

The blade never reached them.

In front of them stood Naruto, Jagaa's sword inches from his neck. His sapphire eyes held neither fear or doubt as he looked into his brothers demon like ones.

"Enough Nii-san, it's over." Naruto said as he continued to stare strait into his brother's eyes.

Everyone saw it. Jagaa's slitted eyes widened slightly as he stared into the sapphire ones of his little brother. His sword slowly lowered and his eyes that had been a dull lifeless green started to shine a brilliant emerald color.

Jagaa's body seemed to give out beneath him and he sank to his knee's. Naruto kneeled down as well and pulled his brother into an embrace.

"It's over." Jagaa said in a tired voice, his eyes now filled with sadness and loss, even as they still shined. "Tsuki nee-chan, it's over."

The two sat like that for a few minutes, nobody around saying anything to the pair on the ground. Finally Jagaa moved out of his little brother's embrace.

"Thanks otouto, I needed that." His voice seemed to have returned to normal, and his eyes were filled with a new and seemingly amused light as he looked back at the bloody mess he had left on the bridge. "Looks like I went over board with my fun eh." Turning back to Naruto "and it looks like you figured out the real reason we were put on the same team. This makes twice that you pulled me out of a blood rage."

"I know," Naruto said as he stood up. "It's not something I enjoy having to do though, so do you think you could try not to go into them again."

"Jeez, that was only the second one for god's sake. You're starting to sound like the old man." Jagaa paused for a minute and looked back at the mess once again. "Shit I forgot about him, he's never gonna let me hear the end of this. Oh well." With that Jagaa walked over to where his discarded glasses lay on the ground and put them back on. Then picking up his sheath that had somehow come off his back when he ripped off his hoodie, Jagaa wiped the blade with the tattered cloth and re-sheathed his sword.

"Well let's go back to the drunks and get something to eat. I'm starving." The rest of his team, as well as the Kiri group and Tazuna, could only stare after the scar covered boy as he walked strait through the group of villagers that had gathered behind them. Though they did notice that said villagers were giving Jagaa a very wide space to walk through.

**A/N:** Holy shit this chapter actually went over ten thousand words. I never once thought that I would ever write a chapter so long but I just couldn't stop. I know I ended it in kind of a weird way, but it was the best I could come up with that wouldn't take another thousand words or more, so you'll have to forgive me. Next chapter is going to start the tale of Jagaa's past, and why he is what he is. I hope you are looking forward to it.

So what do you all think of what happened with Jagaa. I'm not sure how well I described the changes he went through but I did the best I could. The little dialog at the end was supposed to be a small preview of what Jagaa's normal personality will be like now that he isn't holding anything back anymore. You will also see that his speech is going to become much more adult and rather raunchy. Something that is going to add to the 'M' rating I am going to move this to. Well please leave a review and tell me what you think, and I will see you when the next chapter is posted.


	8. Revealing the Past, part 1

**A/N:** Man these chapters are getting long. I had to forgo a lot of things I was considering putting in this chapter or else it would have gone well over the ten thousand mark. Hope your liking the long chaps. **Karg42**. Oh and thanks for the advice on my grammar and shit **Arkaine Deao**, I tried to follow it best I could, but remember English was always my worst subject in school. So I probably still jacked it up.

This chap is going to start the story of Jagaa's past. Remember, I had to adapt his past as best I could for the story, so it is no where near as fucked up as the original I thought up for him. But I did my best. With that being said, let's get on with the story.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, any other questions?

**Chapter 8: **Revealing the Past, part 1

"So are you going to tell us or what?" Naruto asked with an obvious annoyance to his older brother. Naruto's annoyance was not so much that Jagaa was still refusing to answer any questions about what had happened to him on the bridge yesterday, but that Jagaa was also reading Kakashi's damn little orange book as he ignored him.

Jagaa was once again wearing both his sunglasses and a new black hoodie that he had in his travel pack, effectively hiding both the large amount of scars he had on his body, and his emerald, slitted eyes.

"You know Kakashi, that position on page 96 isn't physically possible." Jagaa said as if he had not heard Naruto.

"STOP IGNORING ME DAMNIT"

Looking over to where the team of Kiri nuke-nin was currently sitting in the same room with him and his team, Kakashi could barely keep in his anger at them. They may not have known it but it was their fault he had to give Jagaa his precious book.

///Flashback///

"_They aren't our enemies any more Jagaa, how many times do I have to tell you that!" Kakashi said in an exasperated voice._

"_But they were, and they could be again. We should just kill them now and eliminate the possibility later." Jagaa said as if it were the most natural thing in the world._

"_You can't kill them!"_

"_Tell you what; I'll make you a deal. I only got three pages into your book after I stole it from you in the bell test and I would like to finish it. So, here's the deal. You give your book, and I'll stop trying to kill them." Jagaa knew it was a safe deal since Kakashi would get into trouble if he killed someone on his own team._

_Kakashi started crying._

///Flashback End///

"Tell us already." Naruto's voice drug Kakashi back to reality as the boy was still trying to get his older brother to tell his life story.

"You know, I liked it better when you to busy screaming that Sasuke was a ghost and running away to bother me." Jagaa said as he turned the page again.

Naruto's blush would have put tomatos to shame. "I though he was dead okay. I stopped after Haku told us that she had never aimed for his vitals so he had never actually died."

"I think that's a little beside the point." Sasuke said from his position on the floor. Though he had to admit it had been funny to see Naruto run out of the room screaming like a girl. "The point is that every one of us wants to know why you went into that berserker like mode on the bridge yesterday." The thought of the blood and bodies that had littered the bridge was still enough to make him nauseous, especially since it brought back some painful memories from another massacre he had witnessed.

"H-he's right Jagaa, we're teammates after all. You should be able to tell us about your life." As far as anyone could remember, that was the first time any of them had heard Ino stutter.

Jagaa looked up from the book and stared directly at Sasuke and Ino, both of whom started to squirm a little uncomfortably under his sun glassed gaze. "So you two are talking to me again as well. That's surprising. After the looks you were both giving me yesterday, I figured you would be too scared to talk to me for at least a week."

Both Ino and Sasuke looked down at his words, the shame in their eyes clearly evident to all in the room.

"Don't worry, I don't blame you. It's not everyday a person sees their teammate go on a killing spree that would make the devil proud." Jagaa paused while he looked at them then turned back to the book in his hand. "Besides, I've kinda gotten used to it."

"Will you tell us then?" Sasuke asked as he brought his head back up to look at Jagaa.

Jagaa thought over his teams request as he continued to stare at the book in front of him. He knew that they deserved to know, especially after what they had seen. But he also didn't want them to know exactly what he had gone through throughout his life. Especially since, in his own opinion, his life had been much better than Naruto's.

He was about to tell them 'no' again, but then Ino used her trump card on him.

"Please Nii-san, we want to know about you." She said in a low and sad sounding voice.

Jagaa could have let off a string of curses to make a sailor cringe. He knew that he had just lost. When Naruto called him Nii-san, Jagaa would be more than capable of just shrugging it off. But whenever Ino called him Nii-san, it seemed to spark some kind of lost feeling deep inside him. Like a memory that was desperately trying to surface but couldn't quite reach, and he would wind up doing absolutely anything she asked. In fact every time he heard a girl say the damned word, even if it wasn't directed at him, it caused the same emotion. The younger the girl, the worse it was, and he hated it.

Giving off a sigh of defeat, Jagaa closed the little orange book and looked to where everyone was sitting. "Are you absolutely sure that you all want to know, it is definitely not a 'G' rated past."

"I don't think they would be asking if they didn't want to know you moron." Tora said from his spot by his team. A second later had him yelping and rolling to the side as a shuriken embedded itself where his head had just been.

"I wasn't asking you dip shit." Then he turned back to his teammates. "Well?"

The three younger Genin all nodded their heads in unison.

Jagaa let out a long breath, "Well don't say I didn't warn you." Jagaa reached behind him to his weapons pouch and, to the shock of all present, a bottle of sake. Pulling out the cork and taking a long drink he let out a satisfied sigh. "Well first off, I have to ask if you all got a good look at my eyes yesterday." When he saw everyone nod, he took another drink and continued.

"If I am to be honest, I would have to say that my eyes are the direct reason for everything that I have been through. Just like my ability to tell when people are lying, and the newer one to see through genjutsus and other illusions, they are something that I can't turn off or alter. I have no idea why I have them, or what it means that I do. But if it weren't for them, I may have lived a normal life."

No one except Jagaa, who was watching for just such a reaction, saw Naruto unconsciously put his hand on his stomach.

"But I'm getting a bit ahead of my self. The best way for you to understand who I am, is to go all the way back. Back to very first memory I have before everything goes blank."

///Flashback ///

_It hurt, that was all he knew._

_  
There was a pain in his side that stretched to his leg, another in his neck that went down his chest._

_It hurt._

_His eyes slowly opened. _'Where am I?'_ He saw the stars and the tops of trees. He knew what they were, but he didn't know how. _'I can't remember' _It was all a blank. Who he was, where he was, nothing came to him. It was just a blank. Only the pain was in his mind._

_Slowly he started to rise. His body screamed in protest but he knew it had to be done. As he sat up after some painful effort his hand touched something at his side. Looking at what it was, his eyes came to rest on a sword with a black hilt and sheath._

'Is this mine?'_ His questioning hands picked up the weapon that for some reason felt lighter than he thought it should seeing as it was almost as tall as his small body. Carefully he took hold of the hilt and pulled the blade partway out of its sheath. The polished steel shined in the moonlight as he examined the unmarred blade._

'Beautiful'_ the weapon truly was just that in his eyes._

_He put the blade fully back in its home. Then putting the end of the sheath in the ground, he used it as leverage to help his protesting body to rise._

_Finally on his feet he examined his surroundings. He was in a forest, it was night, and nothing brought the slightest bit of recognition to his mind._

_He started to walk. He didn't know where he walked to, but walk he did. As luck would have it, his direction put him directly on a well used road. He looked down the road in both directions, and was relieved beyond what he could believe when he saw the lights of a town not to far down the road._

'I must have come from there. Someone must be able to help me there.'_ His young mind happy to have found a place to go; he started his painful walk in the direction of the inviting lights._

_X X X X X_

_The boy finally made it to the village after what felt like hours of walking with his sore body. Granted the pain had slowly been receding since he had started his trek, it was still considerable. Limping slightly from the pain in his leg, the boy moved to the first and only person he saw in the darkened streets._

"_Excuse me sir, can you help me." The boy asked the man as he came up behind him._

_The man turned around with a small smile on his face. "I think I could, what do you need little…" The man stopped before he finished his question. His soft smile turned into an angry scowl as he looked at the young boy in front of him. "What are you doing here you little monster?" the man snarled at the small boy._

_The boy backed away from the snarling man in front of him. "What do you mean? What did I do?"_

"_Get away from me you demon. Get out of our village." Without warning the man's hand lashed out and struck the young boy hard in the side of the head making him real from the blow. Dazedly the boy saw the man pulling back for another strike. Not wanting to be struck again, the boy darted past the man and ran down the street as fast as he could._

_So great was his hurry to escape that he did not see the new man that walked in the street in front of him until he had collided strait into his back. The force caused the boy to fall over and he lost his grip on the sword he carried._

"_YOU" a voice yelled down at him. "How dare you attack me you little demon shit." The boy felt his body pulled roughly from the ground until, followed by a sharp pain to his abdomen as the man drove in his fist. More pain followed as the boy was thrown to the ground again followed by a hard kick to his stomach. The boy coughed and sputtered as he tried to get the air back into his lungs. Looking up at the savage and yet gleeful glare of the man attacking him, the boy started to desperately crawl away. In his movements his hand came to rest on the sword he was carrying with him. As soon as his hand touched the sword his attacker's eyes widened in fright and he started backing away._

"_Just get out of our village you little shit. Go back to those demon lovers that kennel you." With one last hate filled glare the man turned and continued on his way to his previous destination._

_The boy felt the tears falling from his eyes. He was crying from the pain of both attacks to be sure. But more he was crying because he didn't know why he was being treated with such hate._

'What did I do? What did I do to deserve this? Why can't I remember anything?'_ With his eyes still blurry from the tears the boy raised his head and found a small dark alley way just off to his side. Not even having the strength to stand anymore the boy crawled his way to the safety of the shadows and hid him self behind a pile of trash. Crying like the child he was, the boy eventually fell into a merciful sleep._

_X X X X X_

_The sound of people moving and speaking in frantic voices was the first thing he heard when he woke up that the next morning. He was slightly pleased to note that his body felt much better than it had the day before. As his cleared away the fog that clouded his mind because of just waking up, the boy started to catch just what the people beyond the alley were talking about._

"_Did you hear about them?"_

"_Yeah, they say it was completely burned down! They couldn't even identify the bodies with any certainty!"_

"_They say the demon brat is in the village, and that he attacked someone last night!"_

"_I bet you anything it was him that did it! Well it serves them right for taking in the little monster! They should have killed him as soon as they saw those demon eyes of his!"_

"_Well now they've paid for their kindness and stupidity by being killed by the very thing they were protecting! I just hope they find and kill it before it can attack anyone else!"_

_By this time the voices had begun to fade into the distance. The little boy was shocked by what he had heard. _'People who protected me?' Demon eyes? Did I really hurt someone that was taking care of me?'_ The little boy was horrified at the thought that he would hurt someone who had been looking after him. _'Why can't I remember?'_ He wanted to. So badly that it hurt. But he just couldn't. There was one thing that he knew for absolute certainty though, and that was that he had to get out of this village as fast as possible. He had heard them talking about finding and killing the demon brat, and as far as he knew from last night, he was the only one they called that._

_Slowly the boy started to make his way to the opening of the alley way, before he cautiously poked his head around the corner. Seeing the way he wanted to go was clear, he was just about to make a mad dash for the path leading out of the village, when he was suddenly hit by a blinding pain to the side of his head. Grabbing the spot that hurt, he brought his hand down to see blood staining his hand from where it had just been. Looking out from the exit, he saw three boys that were most likely only a few years older than himself picking up rocks and throwing them at him._

"_WE FOUND HIM, WE FOUND THE DEMON BOY!!!" One of the attacking boys yelled as loud as he could._

_Without thinking, the young boy turned and ran back down the alley he came. He didn't get far before he realized his mistake as he looked at the large brick wall blocking his path._

"_You found him!? Where did he go? Are you sure it was him?"_

"_Hai, he ran down that alley right in front of us! We know it was him because we saw his eyes!"_

"_Good job kids. All right everyone, it's finally time to get rid of that little monster!"_

_The boy looked frantically for a way out, but to no avail. Turning around he saw a large group of adults coming down the alley. All of them had sadistically happy expressions on their faces. The young boy knowing it was useless pressed himself as hard as he could against the wall that trapped him._

"_Well we finally found you, you little demon!" The closest villager said with a cruel gleam in his eyes. "You got some nerve to come here and attack a villager after what you did!"_

"_B-b-but I didn't ughh" The boy was cut short by a sharp blow to the stomach. Wheezing in pain he doubled over, only to have a heave staff brought down hard against his back, making the boy cry out in pain as he fell over._

"_Don't even try it you freak! We're not as gullible as those fools who took you in, we know a monster when we see it!" His words were emphasized by several sharp kicks to the crying boy's ribs._

"_You demon, you should never have been allowed to live!" Another villager sneered as he too kicked the boy on the ground._

"_Today we'll do what should have been done a long time ago you monster!" Yet another villager yelled as brought the staff he held down on the boys ribs. "You may have fooled them, but not us! We know what you are!"_

_The boy lay curled in the fetal position, covering his head to protect it from the rain of blows that were continuously racking his body._

"_What did I do?" The little boy cried, "What did I ever do to any of you?" He felt the blows increase and he curled tighter trying to protect him self._

"_You were born you demon brat! That's all you had to do! You were allowed to live when you should have been killed the second they saw those demon eyes of yours! But now we will take care of you once and for all!" The blows stopped, and the boy looked up slightly to see a villager holding a knife and grinning insanely as he prepared to kill him._

'For being born, for being alive, because my eyes are different from theirs?_' The boy felt it, a rage growing inside of him. The pain was gone, the fear was gone, and his tears stopped falling. '_They hate me for existing? That's it? Not for anything I've done!?_' His blood felt like it was on fire as his gaze drifted._

_Then he saw it, the sword that he had found and carried with him. It was still laying there next to him and the blade had somehow been exposed. He looked to the man with the knife that stood ready to plunge the blade into him as it seemed to move in slow motion. His body reacted on instinct he rolled to the side and grabbed the sword, fully exposing the blade as the knife just missed him. He jumped to his feet, his eyes burning with hatred._

_The villagers saw the rage that burned behind the emerald gaze of the small boy in front of them. In that moment, they truly saw what they accused him of being._

_It had been too much. Waking up in pain, with no memory of who he was, being attacked by the villagers for no reason save his presence. His mind clouded over. His vision was tinted red. And somehow he could almost hear the blade in his hand screaming for blood. "You want a demon so badly? THEN I'LL SHOW YOU ONE!!!" With a roar that sounded like a wild beast he leapt into the air and swung the blade with all his might at the face of the man who had attacked him first._

_The man couldn't even cry out in death before his head smoothly split in half diagonally and fell apart._

_The boy's slitted emerald eyes, that now held the wrath of the nine hells behind them, focused upon those that still remained. He could see the terror that filled their eyes, but not only that, their was an almost desperate plea in them as well, a silent begging to be spared, a plea of mercy, a mercy that they would never have granted him. His rage knew no bounds as he looked into their eyes._

_He charged directly in to the group that remained, his blade flashing in the darkened alley, cutting a trail of death and blood with every swing. Somewhere deep in his mind questions were plaguing him even as he cut through his assailants. Questions like; how a boy as small as him was so easily wielding a blade that was as big as himself? Why was he as skilled as he was with the blade? Why did every move he made feel so natural, almost instinctive?_

_His conscious mind could not hear the questions, nor could it try to find an answer. All he currently heard was the sound of screams from those who had been harming him. He felt the sensation of his blade passing through flesh and bone alike with ease. He could feel of their blood covering his body and the taste of copper that filled his mouth._

_And he relished in it._

///Flashback End///

"It's funny; I can remember killing the first man as clear as day, but everything after that is fuzzy. All I remember is the sensations and emotions I felt, and how much I enjoyed it." Jagaa paused in his story gazing out the window.

The air in the small room was heavy as all those listening took the pause to fully absorb what they had been told. It wasn't until Zabuza spoke that the tension lessened.

"So, how old were you when this happened?" Zabuza's curiosity was clear in his eyes.

"I don't really know. The age I tell people I am is a guess the Hokage made based off my physical appearance four years ago when he decided I was ten. Since it was about four years before that, I would have been about six by his guess." Jagaa answered as he continued to stare out the window.

Even Zabuza let off a small gasp at that. If the age estimate was even close to true, then that would mean Jagaa had been killing at an even earlier age than he himself had been.

"What did you do after you had realized you had killed them?" Kakashi asked. Despite the calm in his voice his mind was nearly freaking out at what he had heard so far. He could only imagine what Naruto was feeling at the revelations. As it stood, said blonde was currently deep in thought and staring at the floor, most likely remembering all the similar incidents that he had been through with the villagers of Konoha. Kakashi really hoped the young hyperactive boy was not getting any ideas on the best way to handle the villagers.

Jagaa's head came back around to face the group. "I left the village and never looked back. I have no idea how many I killed, nor do I care. I would do it again a thousand times over and enjoy it more every time. So if you are looking for some kind of regret, you are looking in the wrong place."

The quiet room stayed just that for several minutes until Ino finally broke it with her own question. "So is that when you started wearing sunglasses all the time?"

An amused smile came to Jagaa's face as he answered. "Actually it wasn't until about two weeks after that I discovered sunglasses. Ironically enough it was because of that same village."

"How so?" It was Sasuke who spoke this time.

"After my little killing spree the villagers were too scared to come after me directly. So they put a price on my head. Not a large one, but enough of one to attract some of the more needy scumbags. It was because of the bounty that I got the idea. Not to mention my first pair of sunglasses."

///Flashback///

_He had been sticking to the wood line just off the road to avoid running into people as he traveled. After what had happened in the village he had no delusions that his eyes would get him into a lot of trouble if people were to see them, so he had been doing every thing he could to make sure that they were not. So far he had done very well._

_Today he was not so lucky._

"_Well would you look at this. We were just wondering if it would be worth looking for someone with a bounty this small, but it seems we won't have to." A voice came from a little deeper in the woods than the boy himself currently was._

_Turning the boy saw two men, each wearing swords at their waists, come walking out of the trees. It was with a bit of a shock that the boy noticed that one of them was wearing something that was completely hiding his eyes from sight. He decided he really needed those._

"_A strait blade katana and the eyes of a demon, it's definitely him all right. Though personally, I think his eyes look more like a dragons than a demons." The other said as he looked up from a piece of paper in his hand._

"_You and your damned Dragon obsession, well either way it looks like we lucked out. It may only be 25,000 ryou, but the town isn't to far away and we could use the pocket money." The hidden eyed one said. Turning back to the boy he spoke directly to him._

"_Hey kid, I'm sorry to tell you this but we're gonna have to kill you to claim the bounty. The poster specifically says they only want your head." He stopped when he noticed the boy was looking at him strangely. "What?"_

"_What's hiding your eyes like that?"_

_More than a little surprised, and a bit curious, the man took off his sunglasses and held them up for the boy to see. "These are called sunglasses kid."_

"_Can I have them?"_

_Now the man was really surprised. "No you can't have them! Didn't you hear when I said we were going to kill you!?" Beside him his partner laughed loudly._

_At least he did before the sword sank itself into his stomach._

_Staring in horror at the sight of his partner being impaled by a blade that was being held by a small boy, the sunglasses wearing man was frozen in place. So great was his shock that he was completely unable to defend himself when the blade was freed and turned on him. The last thing he ever saw was the flash of sunlight on metal._

_The young boy picked up the things called sunglasses off the forest floor where they had landed. He felt like he might have cheated by killing the men when they were clearly not prepared for an attack, but then he just shrugged it off since it didn't really matter anyway. They had come to kill him just like the villagers had so he killed them first. Now that they were dead they couldn't try to kill him anymore. It made sense to him._

_Happily putting on his new sunglasses the boy headed for the road before he continued on his way. After a few minutes of walking he decided the road was definitely easier to travel on._

///Flashback End///

"You mean to tell me that the first pair of sunglasses you ever had you took from someone that you killed!" Ino said in disbelief.

"Yep, my first pair of sunglasses from the first pair of bounty hunters to come after me. Funny isn't it. The best part is that it was the village that hated me that ended up helping me. Because of the bounty they placed, I ended up with a way to move about more freely." Jagaa was laughing slightly the whole time he spoke.

"Wait a minute! If this happened only two weeks after what happened in the village then why were you so quick to the kill? Isn't that a little sudden to develop a kill first, ask questions later philosophy?" Kakashi asked in a rather stressed tone.

"Not really. I had already killed an undetermined amount of people from the village without turning a hair. Why would killing a couple bounty hunters in the forest on top of that bother me at all? And like I said; if you kill the people trying to kill you first, then they are no longer able to kill you. It made sense then, and it still does now.

Even Kakashi couldn't deny the logic. It was no surprise that a six year old boy who had stopped one attempt on his life by killing his assailants would decide that would be the best way to deal with all future assailants as well. Once again he silently prayed that Naruto wasn't getting any ideas.

"Hey I just thought of something!" Tora suddenly announced causing a few people to jump. "What about your name? You never said if you were told your name, so I assume you weren't. So where did your name come from?"

"Oh, that. Well I found a name for myself a couple months later. But so you understand why I was were I was at the time I'll give you all a quick rundown of events that led to it." Jagaa took a deep breath before continuing.

"I'm sure you can guess that the run in I had with those first two bounty hunters wasn't the last one. Some actually came looking for me but most just happened to come across me just like the first two. Fortunately, just like the first two, they would always leave their guard down because I was just a kid. So I would just take advantage of that and kill them while they were apologizing for having to kill me to get the money. After a while though, I started getting annoyed with all of it, so I tried doing things to lower the chance of meeting them."

"At first I tried traveling only at night. It worked fairly well but I wasn't able to travel as far since I had to be more careful when walking. There was also that time I walked strait into a camp of four of them. That was interesting, but at least I got a tent to sleep in for the night and they had already made some food to eat."

Everyone in the room sweat dropped at this, knowing full well that he was not implying that the bounty hunters had shared with him.

"Anyway, I finally decided to give up on that approach and looked for other ways to travel. It was because of that I ended up getting myself attached to a large caravan that was going in the same direction I was. By offering to feed all the animals they had with them, I was allowed to travel with them. I figured even a desperate bounty hunter would think twice about attacking someone when there was such a large group of people around. Anyway, it was when I was with that caravan that my name quite literally found its way to me."

"So, what happened?" Ino asked as she leaned forward a little.

"Well we had just stopped to water the pack animals at a stream by the road when…"

///Flashback///

_The boy was walking at the front of the caravan along with the other hired hands as they started to get the animals back on the trail after the water break. They had not gone very far when what sounded like a loud, feline snarl came from the woods a ways in front of them. Almost as soon as it faded two large cats, obviously predators, jumped out of the tree line and directly on to the path they were walking._

_Screams of animals and humans alike filled the air at the appearance of the two wild cats. The boy heard someone yell what they were called, but he was to busy watching them in fascination to care._

_One of the cats was yellow-orange color, with black spots all over its body. That one for some reason started to run around to the side of the caravan, possibly hoping to catch some prey that tried to run._

_The other one however, was the one that fully held the boys attention. Its body style looked exactly like its companion, except instead of being yellow with black spots; its entire body was midnight black. This one made no movement to leave; in fact if the boy didn't know any better, he would say that the black wild cat was looking directly into his eyes, and his soul._

_The boys hand moved to the sword that he wore on his back despite its size compared to his own. He had long discovered he already new how to draw it quickly from just such a position. As soon as his hand moved up, the animal in front of him started to slowly stalk directly towards him._

_The animal continued its advance until it reached a place it seemed to find suitable for attacking. Then as if challenging the small boy in front of it, it crouched low into a pouncing stance._

_To all outside observers, their first impression may have been of an old west style showdown, each fighter waiting for that signal for the attack that could only end in one person's death. Finally that signal seemed to sound as the animal pounced, leaping into the air to take down its prey in a fell swoop._

_To this day, the boy doesn't know how he did it. He simply found himself diving forward and rolling underneath the beast. As some point his sword had made it into his hand and as passed under the leaping animal his arm slashed upwards driving the blade forcefully into the animal's neck._

_With a howl of pain the wild cat fell onto its face and stomach when it landed and showed no signs of movement. Feeling extremely surprised at the sudden ending of his showdown, the boy slowly made his way over to the fallen animal._

_With no warning the animal sprang to its feet and jumped at the boy again. This time all the boy could do was thrust his sword strait into the open mouth of the snarling beast. But with its size and weight being much more than the boy the momentum carried it onwards until its left paw's claws found their way into the boy's right arm up by his shoulder. As the boy was knocked backwards from the weight of the animal, he felt the claws drag and rip themselves through the flesh on his arm all the way down to his forearm before finally coming loose and falling away._

_The animal was definitely dead this time as anything would be after having a steel blade shoved through its brain. As the boy painfully pulled his blade out of the creatures head and stood while holding his bleeding arm, a group of men went to the boy's side to help him as best they could._

"_That was something else kid! I don't know many grown men that would have faced that thing down! Let alone a young boy like you!" The man who was bandaging the boy's arm said in amazement. "So what's your name, kid?"_

_The boy was slightly taken aback by the question. After all, it was the first time someone had actually asked him for his name, and seeing as he couldn't remember it, it made it kind of hard to answer. It was as he fumbled in his mind for something he could give the man for a name that the boy's eyes came to lay on the form of the animal that he had killed. It was with a silent prayer of gratitude to the fallen animal that he decided on his new name._

_Looking back at the man who had finished bandaging his arm the boy gave his new name with pride._

"_My name is, Jagaa."_

///Flashback End///

Everyone in the room was staring at Jagaa in total and utter disbelief. If it weren't for the fact that they knew his 'I can't be lied to, so I don't lie to anyone' philosophy, there would definitely be accusations of him doing just that.

"You gotta be shittin me!" Tora finally letting out his shock at the newest part of the story was the first to break the numb silence.

"Nope, and it's not like I don't have the scar to prove it." Jagaa said in the lazy tone of someone who was fully expecting the reaction of the group.

"It's just so incredible." Haku said silently, speaking up for the first time since the story had started. "It's like something you would expect to see on a T.V. show, or maybe some kind of story."

"You're telling me. If I hadn't been the one it happened to I would probably think my lie detector ability was faulty or something if someone told me about it." Jagaa said to the now unmasked girl.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Ino were still staring at Jagaa with their mouths open and their eyes the size of pancakes.

"I have a question for you." Kakashi said from the sidelines causing everyone besides the three who were still in a state of disbelief to turn their attention on him. "You may have gotten rather efficient about dealing with those thugs of bounty hunters, but you were still only six years old. What did you do about things like money, food, and lodging?"

When Jagaa started to shift uncomfortably Kakashi knew he had hit the jackpot question.

"Well, there were two main things I would do to handle those situations. The first one was simple, I overheard some people talking about muggers and rapists that someone needed to do something about. After finding out all I could about them I started to go to the seedier parts of cities and keep my ears open. If I could find some, I would just catch them off guard, kill them, and take whatever money they had on them." Jagaa said. His tone seemed normal enough, but by listening carefully Kakashi could pick up a slight tone of apprehension. Whatever he didn't want to tell them was in the second thing he did to provide for himself.

It seemed that the rest of team 7 had picked up on it as well since they shook themselves out of their stupor and turned frosty glares on their older teammate.

"What's the second thing you did?" Naruto's tone was not one that allowed for refusal to answer.

Jagaa let out a defeated sigh. He might have been able to throw one person off track, but definitely not four. It's not like what happened, and what he started doing after, actually bothered him. It was just that he knew he may never get any peace from it once they knew, especially when it came to Kakashi. "Do you remember when I said before I started the story that it was not rated 'G'?"

They all nodded.

"Well, this is why."

///Flashback///

_Jagaa was sitting under a few broken boards he had placed against the wall to serve as a light shelter against the rain. He had been out looking for a few rapists or muggers to try to make enough to get a room at an inn but it seemed that human trash didn't work in bad weather. After a few hours of fruitless searching Jagaa had finally stopped and made his temporary shelter for the night._

_He wasn't sure how long he had been sitting under his improvised shelter when a soft voice reached his ears through the constant patter of the rain._

"_Why hello there little boy, do you not have a place to stay?"_

_Jagaa turned his head to look at the owner of the voice and found himself gazing at a rather attractive woman. She seemed to be in her late twenties, maybe early thirties. With long ebony colored hair and striking eyes of the same color._

_But for some reason she made Jagaa a little uncomfortable. He could see a very faint look in those ebony eyes of hers, a look that seemed almost, predatory. He wasn't sure what, but he knew she wanted something out of him._

"_Why don't you stay with me tonight?" The woman asked in her rich voice._

"_I don't have anything to give you in exchange." Jagaa said to the woman, who surprisingly, simply laughed._

"_Don't worry; I can think of something you can do to repay me." If it was only faint before, it wasn't anymore. Jagaa could clearly see a look of something akin to hunger in those dark eyes of hers._

"_And how harmful to my health would this be?" Depending on the readout of her answer, he would decide._

"_It wouldn't be dangerous, I promise." Well at least she wasn't lying, so what the hell. Trying to sleep in the rain sucked anyway._

_X X X X X_

_After reaching the woman's house, Jagaa was given a quick tour and shown were everything was. He asked her if it would be okay for him to take a bath and she gave her consent, but told him it would probably be a good idea for him to eat dinner first._

_The dinner she prepared was nothing fancy, but quite good none the less. The woman blushed prettily and said thank you when Jagaa told her the later part. Hey, Jagaa may already be a hardened killer, but he still had manners. The only thing that kept nagging him through the meal was that the strange, hungry look never left her eyes._

_When dinner was finished, the woman handed Jagaa a towel to use so he could go take the bath he wanted. After getting to the bathroom, Jagaa took his time taking off his rather ratty cloths with the exception of his sunglasses; it never hurt to be prepared after all. Not much he could do about the scars he seemed to be gathering, but he could damn sure keep his eyes hidden._

_Going to the shower area, Jagaa turned on the water and waited until it got to a good temperature. He had only just sat down on the stool, when the door to the bath opened to reveal the woman whose house he was currently in, clad only in a towel._

"_A proper hostess should take care of her guest, shouldn't she?" She responded to his unasked question as she moved around to his back. "So let me take care of you."_

_Jagaa felt her soft hands sliding gently across his back. He was sure she was just washing his back, but the way her hands seemed to be caressing his skin more than scrubbing it, was starting to feel really good. It didn't take to long for him to become lost in the pleasant sensation._

"_You wear those even in the bath?" She asked as she took notice of the sunglasses he still wore._

"_I don't like people seeing my eyes. Nothing good ever comes when they do." Jagaa almost purred the answer. The woman's touch just felt so good, he felt one of her hands leave his back and start caressing his right arm, sliding her fingers over the length of the scars his namesake had left there._

"_I don't mind. Between those," her hand trailed down the next scar, "and these, you seem rather…exotic."_

_So lost in the feeling of her touch was he, that Jagaa barley registered that her hands had snaked their way around him, and were now caressing his chest and stomach. Nor did he notice that skin that now was pressed into his back was rather cushioned, and definitely not covered by a towel._

_As her hands continued to caress, one of them slowly slid lower until it hit a spot that made him gasp in surprise and pleasure, as she gently toyed with the area._

"_Well it seems you're still too young to do that." She said bringing her other hand up to sensually trace his lips. "But, there are still so many other things we can do." Without another word, she turned his head to the side and captured his lips with her own._

_To say he was surprised would be like calling the ocean a puddle. His mind was reeling from the strange, and yet oh so wonderful sensations this woman was putting him through. He could feel the disappointment well up inside of him when she finally pulled away._

_It was as he looked into her eyes now that Jagaa realized that the hunger he had seen in them the entire evening was definitely NOT, a bad thing._

"_There's so much for me to teach you." She seductively purred into his ear. "Do you want to learn?" Jagaa could only nod silently as he was still reeling from the kiss. With a very satisfied smile she gently helped him to his feet and led him out of the bathroom, and into the bedroom to further continue his education._

///Flashback End///

"You know, come to think of it, I never did get my bath that night, or even learned her name for that matter." Jagaa said in pure mischief as he examined the others in silent amusement.

Every person in the room, save Jagaa, had eyes as wide as dinner plates, and the mouths that weren't covered by a mask were opening and closing like a landed fish.

Oh yes, very amusing indeed.

It was at least five minutes before any of them managed to find their voice. During which time Jagaa had gone back to reading 'Icha Icha Paradise'.

It ended up being Zabuza who spoke first, though his voice was rather shaky. "H-how old…were you…again?"

"To make this easier, I'm going to start using the birthday the Hokage picked for me to decide that. So if I go off that…I had turned seven about three weeks earlier." Jagaa said as he tilted his head in calculation.

Several more minutes and one chapter of 'Icha Icha paradise' later.

"**WHAT THE HELL!?!?!?!?**"

'_Wow, every one of them managed to yell that at the exact same time._' Jagaa thought as he massaged his ears.

The next minute or so consisted of everyone shouting random questions and comments, which Jagaa completely tuned out as he continued his reading.

"Are you all about done yet?" He asked them when they had finally stopped yelling due to lack of oxygen intake. After some mumbled 'yes's' and a few nodded heads, Jagaa put the book away and turned back to his audience.

"Before you ask, well if you didn't shout it randomly already, I ended up staying with her for about a week. Yes, it did happen many more times, me learning more with every one. And yes, I have since seduced many older women since in order to get a place to stay for the night. You'd be surprised how easily women will fall for the charms of a seven year old when they are extremely lonely." Jagaa's head turned to look at Kakashi who had just raised his hand with his index finger extended. "You can ask about details later." He said in slight exasperation.

Kakashi's hand went back down.

Ino's eyes were narrowed dangerously on her older teammate. She was more than a little displeased with the newest revelation he had given them about his past. However, despite her strong desire to strangle her big brother figure, something he had said earlier in the story was still nagging at her mind.

"I'm a bit surprised that could happen at all, considering how you react when people get behind you. I would have thought you would have attacked her the second she tried to." Ino was staring at Jagaa very hard. His actions in that area had always been one of the mysteries she wanted to solve the most, and now she had her chance to get the answers she had been looking for.

She almost regretted asking; when Jagaa's mood darkened so much that the rest of the group actually backed away from him a bit. 'That, Ino, is because I didn't learn _that_ lesson until a month or so later."

"What happened?" she asked, her curiosity overcoming anxiety at his mood.

Jagaa raised his hand and used his thumb to indicate his back, making them all remember the long scar that they had seen there. "That happened."

///Flashback///

_Jagaa was starting to get annoyed. He had been in this new village for a while now and he had not only, not, found any rapists or muggers, he hadn't even come across a woman who was lonely enough for him to try to seduce her. And because he didn't like to lie to people, since he could tell when they were lying and found it an unfair advantage, trying to play the innocent child to get a place to stay was out to. He had just decided to give up hunting and try to find a more comfortable alley, when his silent prayers were answered by a scream ringing through the air._

'Well finally!' _Jagaa thought as he ran to in the direction the sound came from. It didn't take long for him to find the source, and be looking at an increasingly familiar sight._

_Two of the men were holding the woman down, while the third had already begun ripping off the woman's cloths while she struggled and screamed. It looked like only the cloths shredder had a sword, meaning that it should be a quick and easy paycheck._

_Jagaa, having decided long ago that rapists and muggers didn't deserve the chance to defend themselves, simply drew his sword and attacked._

_The cloths ripper, who was currently trying to undo his pants, was halted in his movements by the blade that entered his back and was now sticking out the front of his chest. Kicking the dead man off his sword, Jagaa stepped in and swung right, cleanly taking the next mans head off._

_The last man, on instinct alone, grabbed a nearby board and swung it at Jagaa's head at the same time Jagaa aimed his blade at him. The board hit Jagaa in the face first, making his aim alter a little too high, the result being the last man having his lower jaw still attached to his neck, but nothing above it._

_Wincing a bit, Jagaa felt his now tender jaw line. It seemed the blow was too weak to do any damage, but that didn't mean it didn't sting like hell._

_Still rubbing his jaw, Jagaa turned to the woman he saved. "Are you all…?" the words died on his lips when he saw the terror in her eyes._

"_Y-y-you're a monster." She stuttered. It was then he realized that her eyes were locked directly on to his own. Stiffening, Jagaa raised his hand higher and confirmed that his glasses were indeed missing._

_Scanning the ground quickly, Jagaa found them a few feet away directly behind him. Quickly grabbing them and putting them back on his face, he was about to make a quick exit, when his entire back, from his left shoulder down across to his right ass cheek, exploded in pain. Gasping from the unexpected agony he now felt, Jagaa turned around and beheld a sight that made his blood run cold._

_Holding the sword of her attacker in her hand, stood the very woman he had just saved. It was almost with a surreal detachment that he saw his own blood glistening on the steel blade._

_He couldn't believe it. He had just saved this woman from being raped, and she had attacked him when his back was turned, and even worse, she had used her attackers own weapon._

_He never felt his body move, never felt the slight resistance on the blade. All he knew, when his mind finally came back to the front of his conciseness, was that the woman in front of him now had his own sword sticking into her stomach. His eyes widened when he realized what he had just done, and locked on to the eyes of the now dying woman before him. What he saw would haunt him for the rest of his life._

_Where previously there had been fear in here hazel eyes, was now a silent apology for attacking the one who had saved her. But even behind that, was forgiveness. Forgiveness for the swift retribution he had unknowingly dealt. They never left her eyes as her body slid off his blade and fell limply to the ground._

_Time held no sway as Jagaa stared down at the woman's still form. How long he stand there, was truly anyone's guess, and it wasn't until the sound of a group of people approaching brought him back from his daze that he finally moved._

_The last thing Jagaa did, before leaving that dark alley, was reach down and close the eyes that would be forever burned into his memory._

///Flashback End///

"From that day onward, I refused to let any one get behind me if I could do anything to prevent it. After all, if someone you had just saved could attack you so easily, why would anyone else hesitate to take the opportunity? As time passed, it became attack reflex." Jagaa let out a painful laugh, "It's funny, but because of that lesson in life, I actually avoided quite a few potentially lethal attacks from various bounty hunters who weren't fooled into stupidity by my age. So in a way, I guess I owe her my life, even if I did take hers."

The atmosphere in the room was subdued as the group looked at Jagaa, who was now staring out the window. What could one say to something like that? None of them knew. So they silently waited. Waited for Jagaa to come back to reality and continue of his own accord, an act that took less time than expected, and when it did his mood had gone back to his sarcastically amused one.

"So that was my life for the first year and a half that I can remember. Traveling from town to town, killing overly confident bounty hunters, hunting down and killing rapists and muggers, and even seducing very much older women for a place to stay now and then since it could be hard for a dirty little seven year old boy to get a hotel room." Jagaa paused for a moment, and then let off a rather vicious looking grin. "All in all, it wasn't all that bad a life, I'd say."

Everyone in the room, rather nervously, sweat dropped at the last comment. A moment of silence ensued afterwards until Kakashi finally spoke up again.

"You realize that none of your story so far explains what happened between you and Gatoh on the bridge, right?" His visible eye narrowed a little at his oldest student.

"Yes, I am well aware of that."

"So are you going to tell us what happened?"

Jagaa's face took on a bitter sweet smile as he stared strait back into the masked mans eye.

"It wasn't really what, Kakashi, as much as it was who."

**A/N:** I would just like to say that if you weren't shocked at least a little by something in this chapter, then you all are more fucked up than me. Anyway, like I said before, his past in this story is miles away from the past I created for him when I thought him up. I am using aspects of it, but it's still very different. Any way, I hope you at least enjoyed it. I have training missions out my ass coming up, so I may not be able to update as quickly as I have been, so please bear with me. Please leave a review if you like, I enjoy reading what people think of the story.


	9. Revealing the Past, part 2

**A/N:** Well it's finally here, the chapter that finishes the story of Jagaa's life before Konoha. I hope you all like it. Now that I have finished it, I plan to try to pull most of the focus off Jagaa, and spread it out among the rest of the team. I say try, because seeing as Jagaa is my own character, it is easier to write about him than the others. If anyone has any good ideas on how to help with that, I would love to hear them. Oh yeah, if you have time after reading this chap, do you think you could check out a story called **Naruto vs Sasuke The Aftermath** by **Kingkakashi**. He looks to be a new writer with his first story. He has two chapters up, and only two reviews, both by me. I think that's crap, because I have read much worse stories than his that have gotten more reviews. So I was hoping some of you might check out the story and leave some reviews as encouragement. We all know that reviews are the best motivators for writing.

Any way, that being said, I will get on with the chapter. I hope you all enjoy it.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, but I do own the 12 pack of Dr Pepper in my fridge that I am about to get a can from.

**Chapter 9:** Revealing the Past, part 2

"You realize that none of your story so far explains what happened between you and Gatoh on the bridge, right?" His visible eye narrowed a little at his oldest student.

"Yes, I am well aware of that."

"So are you going to tell us what happened?"

Jagaa's face took on a bitter sweet smile as he stared strait back into the masked mans eye.

"It wasn't really what, Kakashi, as much as it was who."

///Flashback///

_Jagaa was walking to the hotel district after a very successful night of hunting. Sure having found and killed six muggers and three rapists groups didn't say anything good about the village he was currently in, at least he was sure that he would be pulling in a good income for a while._

_As he entered what looked to be one of the better parts of town, another scream for help rang through the night air. Jagaa was unable to prevent the satisfied smile that came to his lips at the sound. This really was his lucky night._

_X X X X X_

_Okay, seven men trying to rape one young woman was extreme overkill as far as Jagaa was concerned, but the thought of how much money they probably had between them, not to mention the challenge of trying to kill them all at once, was way to enticing for him to pass up. With those happy thoughts Jagaa drew his sword, and went on the attack._

_The first two when down to fast for anyone to fully realize what was happening. Jagaa's blade flashed through the back of the first mans neck, not deep enough to remove his head but it still did the job. Without pausing or slowing Jagaa stabbed the next available man strait through his forehead, with the end of the blade coming out the back of his skull._

_The remaining five men were able to figure out they were under attack about now, and all dove for their various weapons. One wasn't fast enough drawing his, and was unable to block the diagonal slice to the top of his head that came out below his ear. Another man tried to attack Jagaa from behind, only to have the boy step to the side and go into a crouch as he spun around with his blade flashing and spilling the mans guts on the alley floor._

_The remaining three men took up positions side by side to cover each other as best as they could. Jagaa quickly jumped back to put some space between himself and them so he could think of the best way to finish them off._

_With a calm curiosity, Jagaa noticed that the young woman who was attacked was still there. Her eyes, wide in horror at the gruesome display of killing the young boy was doing. He would never be able to figure out why these girls would not just run away when he saved them, but it in the end it didn't really matter to him; he still had people to kill after all._

_Looking back to the remaining three men, Jagaa took notice of their weapons. The one on the left was holding an Iron bar that, as far as Jagaa could guess, he had picked up off the alley floor. The one in the middle, who seemed to be the leader of the group, held a normal looking katana, while the last man on the right had put on a pair of spiked brass knuckles._

'So much for a challenge_' Jagaa thought dejectedly as he went for the man with the knuckles. The other two tried to jump over and intercept him, but threw up their arms instinctively to stop the trash Jagaa had kicked at them as he moved. Mr. knuckles showed himself to be an idiot, as he followed the trash through the air with his eyes, making him completely vulnerable to the attack Jagaa did that slashed through his chest, cutting his heart and left lung in half._

_Without even giving the man a last glance, Jagaa turned on the remaining two. Ducking low under the katana swipe to his head, Jagaa countered with his own swipe at the man's stomach, which surprisingly he dodged by jumping away. Jagaa couldn't think on it to long though as he had to twist away from the bar that was coming down to break his skull. With a quick step and a twist, Jagaa got behind the man while still facing away from him. Reversing the grip on the hilt, Jagaa drove his blade into the man's heart from behind. Twisting the blade so it faced up, Jagaa gave a mighty heave, and brought the blade out the top of the man's skull._

_The leader of the group, and not to mention the only one still alive, stared at the young boy in front of him with horror in his eyes. Jagaa could see him mentally weighing his chances as he glanced in every direction, most likely looking for an escape. When the fear suddenly turned into a fierce resolve, Jagaa was impressed that the rapist was planning to die fighting. That was until the man did the last thing Jagaa had expected him to do. With a loud cry, the remaining man turned his attention to the young woman who was still watching while frozen in shocked horror._

"_At least I can kill you!" He yelled as he turned his blade on her._

_From that day on, Jagaa would never be able to explain why, or even how, he did it. All he knew, was that one second he was seeing the man moving to kill the young woman while he stood off to the side, and the next he was in front of the man ramming the girl out of the way as the attack meant for her hit between his right shoulder and neck at an angle, and continue down and across to the opposite side of his chest._

_With a roar of pain, Jagaa leapt forward and drove his sword strait up through the bottom of the man's chin to come out at the top of his head. Pulling the blade free, Jagaa kicked the dead man away before collapsing to his knees._

_The last thing he remembered seeing was the young woman he had just saved come running up to him, with what looked like concern lying heavy in her eyes, before he fell into darkness._

///Flashback End///

"Well I think that's about enough for tonight." Jagaa said as he stretched and yawned.

"WHAT?" Everyone in the room yelled at him all at once, causing Jagaa to once again massage his ears from the intensity of the noise.

"You can't stop there!" Naruto almost screamed at his older brother.

"That's right; we want to know what happened next!" Ino followed up behind him.

Everyone else in the room was hard, as well as giving him intense glares.

To bad for them, Jagaa could really give a shit. "Look, it's getting late, and I'm tired, seeing as I was the one telling the story. We also have to start heading back to Konoha tomorrow, so everyone needs some sleep. I can tell you the rest as we travel, OK!"

The rest of team 7 let out a defeated sigh and grudgingly gave their 'OK's'. Three other sighs, these ones sounding more irritated than defeated, followed them, those being from Zabuza's group.

"You understand that this means my team and I are going to be walking with you for a way's, right Kakashi? There's no way I am missing the end of this story." Kakashi nodded his understanding, knowing full well he would have done the same thing in Zabuza's place.

"Well now that that's settled, why don't we all get some sleep? After all, the sooner we go to sleep the sooner tomorrow comes, and the sooner you all get to hear the rest…of…the…story." Jagaa could only blink in surprise behind his sunglasses. He had never seen any of them move that fast before.

X X X X X

The next morning had the entirety of team 7, the three Kiri nin, and surprisingly, Tazuna (who they found out had been listening outside the door for the whole story and also wanted to hear the rest) walking along the road that would lead them to Konoha. The trip itself would take just under two days, but it only took ten minutes for the begging of the continuation of the story.

"ALL RIGHT," Jagaa yelled, throwing arms and elbows around to get some space inside the circle of people they had entrapped him in "I'll start up on the story Just give me some fucking room to breath, and stop whining in my ears."

Backing off a way's, the group grinned triumphantly, as Jagaa let out a few muttered insults at them before speaking up. "It's not like I wasn't going to tell you idiots, I was just waiting a bit, jeez. Any way, where was I…oh yeah, I had just passed out after the fight with the seven guys in the alley. Ok, so anyway…"

///Flashback///

'I feel like shit_' was the first thought that crossed Jagaa's mind, as consciousness painfully returned to him. His whole body ached, and he had a massive headache. The churning in his stomach, along with the blinding pain to his eyes when he tried to open them, wasn't helping. Jagaa couldn't remember having felt this bad, since he had found those bottles of sake and decided to help himself._

_With a loud groan, Jagaa slowly tried to sit up. Only to feel himself pushed back onto the bed by a gentle hand on his chest._

"_You shouldn't try to move around yet; the doctors said your body would be fairly weak when you first woke up." A soft, feminine voice said to him._

_Opening his eyes, despite the searing pain the light seemed to cause them; Jagaa looked for the source of the voice. Just off to his left was a very beautiful young woman, with long, dark brown hair, and hazel green eyes. She was wearing a pure white kimono with what appeared to be a stem of sakura blossoms going up the right side. Jagaa also recognized her as the one he had most recently saved._

"_Where am I?" Jagaa's voice cracked due to his dry throat._

"_You're in my house. After the doctors said that you were out of danger, they let me move you hear to take watch after you." The young woman said, her eyes never leaving his face. "In all honesty, they said it was a miracle that you survived. The blade that hit you was coated in poison. The doctors had to keep you under constant watch for a week, and even then it was close. You're very lucky to be alive right now."_

"_That's a matter of opinion." Jagaa replied, as he thought of the, less than ideal, life he had been living. "So, I've been out for a week?"_

"_Well you've actually been here for the last three days, on top of the week you were under the doctor's watch." The young woman replied in slight shock at how someone so young could just casually shrug off the fact that he nearly died._

"_Well, thank you for taking care of me like you have, but I think it's time for me to be leaving. I'd really rather not wait until I am kicked out, or worse." Jagaa said as he slowly tried to sit up yet again. The lack of strength in his body was really starting to piss him off._

"_Why would you even think that I would do something like that?" The young woman said in disbelief. "You saved my life. Letting you stay and taking care of you is the least I could do."_

"_Believe me, gratitude only goes so far." Jagaa's mind unwillingly went back to the night he received the scar on his back, and learned that hard lesson. "Seeing my eyes is all it takes to destroy it." Jagaa had not realized that he had said the last part out loud until the girl he was with spoke up._

"_But, I can already see your eyes"_

_Jagaa froze as soon as he heard the words. Slowly, his hand rose to feel where his sunglasses should be, and sure enough they weren't there. Jagaa instantly started to mentally curse himself for being stupid enough to open his eyes without making sure they were there, or that he was at least alone. The phrases; Dumb Ass, Dip Shit, and Fucking Retard, were some of the nicer things he was calling himself._

"_Your eyes are beautiful."_

_Jagaa's mental self abuse was brought to a screeching halt when her words managed to sink in. In fact, his ability to think had practically disappeared, leaving him only one possible response._

"…_Huh?" Yes, pure eloquence._

_The girl giggled at his stupefied expression. "I said your eyes are beautiful."_

_Rational thought had indeed become a foreign concept to the completely stunned boy. Not trusting himself to attempt this thing called speaking again, Jagaa simply stared at the lovely, still giggling, girl._

"_Well, you must be starving." She said, after what felt like an eternity. "I'll go make you something to eat." With a last giggle, and the most beautiful smile Jagaa had ever seen, she turned to walk out the door._

_She was just about out the door, when Jagaa's mind and voice decided they were ready to come back from vacation. Using his newfound powers of speech, Jagaa asked a question that he had never asked anyone before. "What's your name?"_

_Stopping at the door, the girl looked back and gave him another incredible smile. "My name is Tsuki, Hikari Tsuki."_

///Flashback End///

"What the hell is so funny Kakashi?" Jagaa said in irritation to the silver haired Jounin. He wasn't the only one annoyed. The entirety of the group was giving Kakashi death glares for interrupting the story with his sudden bout of giggling.

Kakashi's eye turned into an upside down 'U" with his smile. "I think someone fell in love." He stated in a sing song voice. Kakashi had never before come so close to being killed by a Genin, barley managing to avoid the ten shuriken that embedded into the tree behind where he had been standing.

"It wasn't love, you jack ass! I was just amazed that she wasn't scared of my eyes, the way everyone else had been up to that point." Jagaa said, as a fair amount of his killing intent leaked out.

Kakashi was tempted to let out a very sarcastic 'Uh-hu', but considering that Jagaa's hand was still dangerously close to his shuriken holster, along with the leak of killing intent coming off him, he decided against it.

"So what happened next?" Ino asked to stave off any imminent bloodshed.

Jagaa gave Kakashi one more glare before continuing. "Well, the first week I was with Tsuki was, well, lets just call it a battle of wills. With me trying to sneak out of bed and her always somehow managing to catch me before I did. I swear the girl had freaking radar or something. I finally had to threaten a doctor into telling her that I was okay to be up and moving around before she would let me even go to the bathroom without an escort…and I swear Kakashi, if you even _imply_ anything perverted about that, I will kill you."

Behind his mask, Kakashi's mouth snapped shut.

"Any way, over the course of that week, I learned a fair deal about her. Like the fact she was only sixteen, and an only child. Her mother had died at child birth, leaving only her father to raise her. Said father was some sort of business man, but she wasn't exactly sure what kind of business. She loved children, and dreamed of the day she could have her own with the man she had fallen in love with." Jagaa's voice seemed distant as he spoke, seeming to have gotten lost in the story he was telling.

"She was also kind, so kind in fact, that she seemed to be loved by everyone in the village. After I was able to get out of bed, I started going into town with her. Everywhere we when, the people would smile and wave at her, or stop her to talk about the way their lives were going, or just to ask how her day had been. Her love of children was obvious by how much they all seemed to love her. Every kid in that village called her Tsuki Nee-chan, and seemed to get so happy just by having her around." Jagaa paused in his walking, his face lifting to stare at the sky.

"She was just…pure. That's the only way I can describe the kind, innocent, and just all around loving feeling that seemed to surround her. She was pure."

Jagaa's face darkened "Hard to believe, considering she was raised by that scumbag!" Jagaa said darkly.

"I guess you didn't like her father all that much then, eh?" Kakashi said in a slightly amused voice.

"Let's just say, that he was the type of person I didn't mind putting my sword through. If it weren't for the fact he was Tsuki's father, I probably would have the first time I met him. Especially, since he ruined a relatively good day, and I had not had many of those up to that point."

///Flashback///

_Tsuki and Jagaa walked out of the clothing store with Jagaa already wearing his brand new cloths. These new cloths being; a black hoodie, soft black loose fitting pants, and a pair of soft black boots. Tsuki had been a bit put out that Jagaa refused to wear anything that wasn't black (As it was his way of honoring the animal that gave him his name. That and he loved the color anyway since it blended into the shadows so well.) But at least she had convinced him to go with the hoodie, instead of the sleeveless black shirt that he had wanted._

"_Your to cute to be trying to scare off girls with those scars of yours. If you just let them get to know you, I think they would really like you." She had told him._

_Jagaa had tried telling her that 'getting to know him', was more likely to scare them than the scars, and in essence, was only saving time by making them to nervous to approach him in the first place. The girl, however, was relentless, and in the end he decided it would be easier just to appease her instead of trying to convince her of his point of view._

_Now that they were walking down the street, he kept catching girls around his age (and some older as he was sure that last one was at least thirteen) giving him very approving looks. Jagaa wasn't to sure what to make of that, so he just did his best to ignore it._

_As usual on their walks through the village, Tsuki was greeted by everyone she passed, as well as being stopped multiple times by people who wanted to discuss something with her. Jagaa could only smile with every encounter. The purity that shone through her was so soothing, that even Jagaa's blood stained soul felt peace in her presence. So it was no small wonder why every one around her seemed so happy._

_In that moment, Jagaa found his first real reason for living, as he decided that he would protect that purity for the rest of his life._

"_Tsuki-sama" a voice said behind them. Jagaa turned in sync with Tsuki to look at the owner of the voice. It took all the restraint he had not to attack right then, as the two people he was now looking at were more than a little obviously the same type of people he had been regularly been killing in dark alleys for more than a year now._

"_Akira-san, Ikkaku-san, what can I do for you?" Tsuki said with a smile._

_Both men gave slightly lecherous grins at her innocent question, their sick imaginations going wild. That was until they were both overwhelmed by the feeling of impending death and looking down to see Jagaa's hand moving up to the hilt of his sword._

_Both men took frightened steps backwards, as the one called Akira spoke hastily. "Your father has said that he would like to meet the young man that saved you, and asked him to take him to the office." His voice was slightly shaky, and there were beads of sweat coming down his face as he looked at Jagaa, who incidentally had yet to remove his hand from his sword hilt._

"_Really? Well that's good to hear. Does daddy want me to come by too?"_

"_I'm afraid, Tsuki-sama, that your father wishes to speak to the boy alone. He said to tell you he was sorry, and that he would meet you for dinner tomorrow."_

"_That's okay." She said with a slightly sad sigh, but considering how quickly she brightened it was hard to notice it. "Just make sure you take care of Jagaa-kun for me while he is with you."_

_Jagaa barely stopped himself from gaping at the teenage girl beside him. "Jagaa…kun?"_

"_Don't think I didn't notice those looks you were getting with your new outfit. I just thought you should start getting used to it, since once the all the girls learn your name, you will probably be hearing it a lot." With a school girl like giggle, she continued down the road in the direction the two of them had been going originally._

_Shaking his head in exasperation at the girl he was currently staying with, Jagaa turned back to the two men who had been sent to get him. "I believe you said there was someone who wanted to meet me."_

_X X X X X_

'So many guards, just for little ole me, I'm flattered._' Was the only thing Jagaa could think when the door to the office shut behind him, and he was surrounded by no less than twenty armed men. Not much of a warm welcome, but Jagaa was at least appreciative that they were smart enough to take him seriously._

"_So you're the 'Jagaa' my daughter has told me about. It would seem I owe you for saving her life." The dark haired man behind the desk said as he stared hard at Jagaa._

"_You have a funny idea of gratitude." Jagaa said as he pointedly looked around. He could tell just by looking, that he would probably end up killing every man in this room if he stayed in the village long enough. That fact alone told Jagaa all he needed to know about exactly what kind of man Tsuki's father was._

_The man himself was not all that impressive, as far as Jagaa was concerned. He was average in height and build, and had a rather shallow face and black hair. The only thing that stood out about the man was his eyes. They were cold and cruel, pitiless and merciless, calculating and dangerous. It was obvious that this man got his position through less than honest means, as his eyes told the story of the blood on his hands, and the pleasure he took in it._

_Jagaa really hoped the man would give him an excuse to kill him._

"_Are you planning on telling me why the hell I'm here, or do you just want to order your men to attack me so that I can start killing them. I have to be back before dinner after all or Tsuki might start to worry." Jagaa spoke in an indifferent voice as he stared at Tsuki's father. He was really hoping he would go with option two. Unfortunately for Jagaa, the man was much more calm and calculating than your normal alley thug, seeing as he was a leader of them._

"_The reason you are here, is because I want you to stay away from my daughter." The man said as his eyes hardened. "You may have saved her life, but I don't need someone who isn't under my employment around her. I have had to work hard to keep her from discovering what I do, and I don't need you around possibly ruining that."_

"_Wow, an asshole with a conscience. I guess that explains the innocence that Tsuki seems to display. To keep her from discovering you, you have sheltered her from the worst parts of human nature. I'm actually some what impressed, but I have no intention of listening to you and staying away from her. So where does that leave us?"_

"_I could always have you killed right now. You may have fought seven men and won, but you were wounded. So how would you fair against twenty?" the man said in his most intimidating tone, but even he could not hide his surprise when the boy in front of him started laughing._

"_For one, you dumb ass, I only got hurt because for some damn reason I decided I had to save your daughter and ended up taking the hit meant for her. As for how well I would do, it would probably be easier than it was dealing with them. In this small room with so many people, it would be hard for your men to attack without hitting each other, so they would have to be more careful. Since everyone in the room would be my opponents, and I do mean everyone." Jagaa gave the man a pointed look. "I would have a much easier time fighting, and therefore, would take out most of your men so fast that the numbers would no longer be an issue." Jagaa smirked sadistically at Tsuki's, now wide eyed father, "Any other questions?"_

_Tsuki's father stared long and hard at the boy. His surprise was gone, and in its place was a cautiously calculating look. "It seems I underestimated you. You are not just some skilled child who was trying to play hero, more like a cold blooded professional. It seems we may have to come to some sort of arrangement."_

"_That arrangement being what, exactly?" Jagaa asked._

"_Since you won't leave, and I don't want anyone around my daughter that I do not employ, I suggest you work for me." The man said in a compromising tone._

"_I have a fair idea of what working for you entails, and I'd much prefer to just keep killing people like your employees, not become one." Jagaa said_

"_I knew that would be your answer, but you don't have to be worried. What I had in mind would not involve anything around the grounds you are implying."_

"_I'm listening."_

"_I am sure that an intelligent boy like you is aware of what a brothel is." He looked at Jagaa, who responded with a nod. "Well I have what one might call a 'dual gender' brothel. In other words, my brothel is a place where both men _and_ women can go for a bit of fun."_

"_I think I see where this is going. I'm guessing that you have a few clients that have been requesting a 'younger vintage' so to speak. But still, why should I do this for you, instead of going with the much more appealing plan of killing you all right here? "_

_The man was indeed impressed at the boy's astuteness, even if he was a little worried about how quickly the boy fell back onto killing as his solution. "The answer is the same one that made me try to threaten you into leaving, instead of just trying to kill you."_

_Jagaa nodded in acknowledgement, "Tsuki."_

"_Indeed, I don't want her finding out about me while trying to find out what happened to you, and you don't want to make her sad by killing her 'loving' father. So with that being said, what is your answer?"_

_Jagaa thought it over for a moment. He couldn't really see a way out of this that wouldn't involve putting Tsuki through some kind of emotional pain, even if he could make it look like some kind of accident. Finally, he decided. "All right, but I'll only do it on two conditions. The first and most obvious is that you will be paying me."_

"_Of course, you will receive your portion of the amount paid to hire your services just like anyone else in the profession. So what is the second condition?"_

_Jagaa's voice took on a very menacing tone and a large amount of his killing intent permeated the room. "I only do women. The very second I open that door and there is a man behind it, you will be trying to cover up a very gruesome murder. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"_

_Tsuki's father could only nod in response, having been cowed by the bloodlust coming from the boy. Jagaa gave a smirk as he looked strait at the man. "So when do I start?"_

///Flashback End///

Jagaa stopped walking when he realized that no one was around him anymore, turning back to look down the way he had come, he saw the rest of his traveling companions staring at him in shock.

'_Oh for kami's sake, how many times are they going to do that? They're acting like I hadn't already told them I was doing the same type of thing to get places to stay sometimes._' Jagaa thought as he shook his head in exasperation. He really couldn't understand people sometimes.

"So do you all want to get back to the story, or would you rather just stand there gaping like baka's." Jagaa said to the group.

Breaking from their separate trains of thought on the matter, they all silently nodded at him. Jagaa did noticed that Ino and Haku were both giving him rather hard stares, most likely from some kind of hatred for brothels and all that they entailed. They were both female after all.

"Any way," Jagaa started back up with the story "for the next, oh I'd say, about half a year, I stayed with Tsuki. I lived with her, I went with her on her errands, and I helped her take care of children." Jagaa's face took on a slight grimace, "I also got my first group of fan girls, as well as a shit load of self appointed 'rivals' for Tsuki's affection." He shuddered a bit as he remembered all the challenges he had received from various boys, and all the times he had to hide from that pack of rabid females that obsessed over him.

Ino let out a vicious smirk at Jagaa. "I guess she was right about you needing to get used to 'Jagaa-kun', huh?"

"Careful, Ino, or I may have to tell a few of your own little fan club that, if they try hard enough, you just _might_ be take notice." He put heavy stress on the word 'might'. After all, he needed to be able to pull of his scheme without actually lying, and saying 'might' was his way of giving a giving an idea of meaning, without ever _actually_ saying exactly what the meaning might be, therefore letting the listener draw their own conclusions. For instance, never saying if the notice they got would be a good thing, or a bad one. Yes, he was a master of his trade.

Ino's face took on a look of pure horror, as her mind brought forth some of the more, _interesting_, of the boys Jagaa could say that to. Naruto's face, however, was one of pure rage and jealousy at the thought of any other boy coming within an inch of Ino. Not to mention the death glares he was currently sending Jagaa for even thinking of something like that. Fortunately, Jagaa was practiced enough at controlling his emotions, the mental bought of laughing his ass off at the two did not move beyond the safety of his mind.

"Now, I wonder which boy would be best for Ino?" Jagaa said as if to him self, as he carefully watched the female blonde with hidden eyes. He saw all he needed, when he caught the look of hope that Ino sent strait at the oblivious Naruto, before she quickly lowered her eyes with a small blush.

'_Jackpot_' Jagaa mentally cheered, before furiously working his mind threw any and all possible ways to get them together. His planning was cut incredibly short, as Kakashi's voice got through.

"I think we've gotten a little off topic, don't you?" The copy ninja said irritably, "some of us would really like to hear the rest of the story."

Sighing a little at the interruption, Jagaa pushed his plotting out of his mind. He would have plenty of time to make plans later. "Well, like I said, I was living with Tsuki, and pretty much helping her with everything she did. I even started to call her Tsuki Nee-chan now and then. Though it was usually only when I was trying to irritate her a little for fun, and a couple of times when I was trying to get out of trouble. In truth, she was never all that pleased when I called her that. She said it made me seem like an average child, when clearly I wasn't. But over all, I would say that truly enjoyed being with her. It got to the point that we were practically inseparable. I even started to think that I may just be able to have a normal life with her." Jagaa's face went from having a soft, nostalgic smile, to wearing a rather predatory grin. "That isn't to say that I was completely tamed by her. I still went out on nightly 'hunting trips' when she would go to sleep. Most of the men I killed ended up being her father's employees. In fact, he had lost so many of them since I came, that he had started looking for more legitimate means to make money. Ways that would not require hiring people that I was going to end up killing in an alley."

Jagaa smiled a soft, sad smile, as he remembered the days long gone. "That had been the happiest I had ever been, since I woke up in pain less than two years before." His voice was seemed heavy when he spoke again. "It's incredible sometimes, how one decision, made for yourself or for another, can change your life for ever. All because I let him get away, and live to come back again."

///Flashback////

"_Just stay close all right, they could be anywhere." Jagaa whispered nervously as he glanced around._

"_What's this? The great Jagaa, the boy who fought and killed seven fully grown men to save me, is afraid of a few young girls." Tsuki teased with her eyes wide in feigned disbelief._

"_Shut it! I'd rather fight a hundred armed rapists at once, than try to deal with a group of obsessed fan girls. I swear there's something just not right about them." Jagaa said in complete seriousness, to which Tsuki gave a musical laugh in response._

"_We're looking for a man named Hikari." A voice said next to the pair as the passed by a shop. Both of them turned in curiosity at the sound of Tsuki's clan name._

_Three men were facing the owner of the shop. All Jagaa could tell about the man in the middle, was that he was wearing a business suit, and was really short. The two flanking the short man though, Jagaa could tell all he needed to know. They were exactly like the ones that Tsuki's father would hire, or that Jagaa would kill in dark alleys. They also seemed to be body guards, judging by the katanas they wore on their waists._

"_Hikari-san, well he's…Oh, Tsuki-chan good timing." The shop owner said when he saw standing behind the trio in front of him. He refocused on the three in front of him. "Tsuki-chan would be able to help you best, she is Hikari-san's daughter after all."_

_When the three men turned around to face the newcomers, Jagaa was able to find out something else about the short man. He was ugly as fuck. Jagaa was also slightly annoyed to see the little troll wearing cheesy looking sunglasses that were practically an insult to the pair of 'Shinoaklys' that Tsuki had bought for him._

_Thoughts along those lines were instantly replaced by an immediate need to kill the three men before him, as they openly looked at Tsuki with lecherous, and lust filled eyes. He almost did, as soon as he saw Tsuki take a fearful step backwards. She had seen that kind of look before, and Jagaa only needed one guess as to when._

"_So, your Hikari's daughter, are you?" The troll said in a sickening voice. "I wouldn't mind being _helped_ by you at all." He then eyed her up and down shamelessly._

_The only thing that was keeping the troll alive at this moment was Tsuki, and all the witnesses. But that would only stop Jagaa for so long. Taking two bold steps, Jagaa put himself between Tsuki and the gremlin._

"_Tsuki won't be helping you in _any_ sense of the word!" Jagaa said in a dangerous voice, even as he fought to keep his killing intent from spilling out. He was really hoping not to involve Tsuki in a murder scene in broad daylight. "Her father is the owner of the place called 'Unbridled Desires' just up the road. He is almost always there, so that's where you can talk to him."_

"_Who the hell do you think you are you little shit? For one, I don't think you have any say in what she does or doesn't do. So you might want to back off before you get hurt. Besides, I don't think either of your opinions matter in the end. I always get what I want." The Troll smirked maliciously, and gave Tsuki another once over._

_That did it. Deciding not to try to out draw to larger men with easier access to their weapons, Jagaa ducked low and attacked the man on the left. He went under the man's swipe and got near his knees, then with a powerful punch, destroyed the man's kneecap. Screaming in pain, the man fell forwards, but before he could reach the ground Jagaa's heal smashed into his chin, shattering it and completely knocking the man out._

_Jagaa dodged to the side to avoid the downward slice from the remaining body guard. Turning quickly, Jagaa trapped the man's arm with one hand, and brought his elbow into the elbow joint of arm he held, breaking it. Then, using the broken arm as leverage, Jagaa flipped himself over in the air and drove a heel into the top of the man's skull. The man's eyes rolled back into his head, and joined his partner in an unconscious heap._

_Jagaa slowly turned from the forms of the two men on the ground, and looked strait at the little troll. Jagaa's now unrestrained desire to kill them man leaking out, making the bastard pale and fearfully back away._

"_In answer to your earlier question," Jagaa didn't care about who was around him, or who would see anymore. All he wanted to do was kill this man. "Your executioner." Jagaa's hand rose up to grasp the hilt of his sword. He was a mere inch away when Tsuki's voice stopped him._

"_Jagaa, don't do it!" Jagaa couldn't move, his body frozen by her cry. He wanted to kill this man, every fiber in his being told him he _should_ kill him, but he could not seem to override Tsuki's command on his body. Furious that his target was right in front of him and that he couldn't kill him, Jagaa could only growl "Why should I?"_

"_Look around you!" She said in a desperate voice. "We're in the middle of the shopping district! No matter what the reason, if you kill an unarmed man in front of all these people, you will have to face punishment!"_

"_I could really care less, as long as I can kill him! It's not like I can't just go back to wandering like I was before!" Jagaa responded in a low voice. He was finally able to move again, it was time to kill the troll._

"_Please Jagaa, don't do it! I don't want to lose you!" Her words struck Jagaa like a knife through the heart. All the anger and hatred he had been feeling vanished. Hearing the broken heartedness in her voice, and knowing that he was causing it, hurt more than anything he had ever felt before. Turning around, he saw Tsuki on her knees and crying into her hands._

_Jagaa forgot about the man he had intended to kill, he no longer mattered. The only thing he wanted now was to comfort the only person in the world that he cared about. Kneeling down slightly, Jagaa gently pulled her hands away, and looked into her tear stained eyes._

"_Don't worry, Tsuki. You'll never lose me." Jagaa whispered, as he gently wiped a tear from her cheek. "I never want to be the reason you cry."_

_With a happy, relieved cry, Tsuki pulled Jagaa into a fierce hug with no signs of letting go in the near future. Leaving Jagaa only able too awkwardly stroke her hair as he waited for the teenage girl to calm down._

_Craning his neck to look behind him, Jagaa found that the man he was going to kill was no longer there. Even as he held the crying girl, Jagaa could not help but feel that he had made a terrible mistake in not finishing the man off. One which would be sure too haunt him for the rest of his life._

///Flashback End///

"What do you say we set up camp for the night?" Jagaa suddenly asked the group. "The suns about too set, after all." Much to Jagaa's relief, the rest of the group didn't make a single complaint about wanting to hear more of the story, or anything of the like.

What Jagaa didn't know, was that his voice and actions had made it clear to all present that he needed a little time before he continued with the story. What ever was coming was something Jagaa didn't really want to talk about. They didn't even comment when he jumped into a tree and gazed silently at the setting sun.

It didn't take long to set up camp, and soon after finishing they all sat around the campfire that had been made and waited for Jagaa. After a relatively short time, Jagaa walked out of the shadows of the forest and sat down on the small log they had placed there for him.

For a while, he only stare into the flames as they danced, seeming lost in his mind and past. Finally, he sighed "I guess it really can't be avoided any longer." His voice was low, almost hollow sounding.

"Nii-san," Naruto said in a slightly worried tone. "If you really don't want to…"

Jagaa stopped him with a slight wave of his hand. "It's all right, Naruto. I once told Sasuke, that the only way to ever truly move beyond the past is to be able to share it with others. I would be a hypocrite if I stopped now." He looked over at Sasuke as he finished, who in return gave Jagaa an encouraging nod, even as sympathy filled his onyx eyes.

Jagaa gave one more sigh before looking at everyone in the group. "I only have one thing I need you all to do for me." Jagaa said, his voice carrying a tone of both ordering, and begging. "Once I start, don't stop me for any reason. No questions, no comments. I need you to do this for me, because if I stop before I finish, I won't be able to go on. Do you all understand?"

Everyone around the campfire nodded.

"So, what happened after, I'm guessing it was Gatoh from your description, got away." Ino didn't want to sound pushy, since it was obviously hard for Jagaa to continue, but she hoped to give him some kind of starting point. To her relief, Jagaa gave her an understanding, and even grateful smile, before he continued.

"Well, for a few months, nothing. No Gatoh, no retaliation, no attempted murder, nothing. The only thing that seemed to happen afterwards was my huge popularity increase when it got out that I had defended Tsuki like that. Everyone in the village would say I was a wonderful example of how a person should protect those they care about, just as I had protected someone that the entire village cared about. Even her father seemed a little more civil with me when he would call me in for my latest client. They just all seemed so happy that she was okay."

Jagaa's voice deepened into an angry growl, and for just a moment, his killing aura spiked. "I will never regret what I did to those bastards."

///Flashback///

"_Where is she!?" Jagaa demanded as he burst through the doors to of Tsuki's father's office. In his wake were several injured, and dead, people who had tried to get in his way._

"_What are you talking about?" The man's tone was calm, as of someone who was expecting this to happen._

"_Don't give me that shit!" Jagaa said dangerously. "Last night, a few of your thugs showed up and told Tsuki that you needed to see her, alone. She hasn't been back since. Now tell me where the fuck she is!" Jagaa may have been a bit better composed, if were not for the bad feeling he had gotten when the men had come for Tsuki. It had been to much like what he felt when the Troll man got away, and it had only been getting worse since she had left. He had tried to let him go with her, but since he father had asked to see her alone, Tsuki wouldn't let him. She also laughed off the feeling Jagaa told her he was getting, saying 'she would be just fine' and followed the men out. That was almost twelve hours ago, and Jagaa was not waiting any longer._

"_I swear if you don't tell me, I'm going to cut your nuts off and put them where your eyes _should_ be, NOW TALK!"_

_The man's eyes grew fearful for a moment, knowing full well that Jagaa would not hesitate to do as much, or worse. Pulling his courage back, his eyes grew hard and set as he answered._

"_Last night, a man named Gatoh, Marine Transportation Billionaire Gatoh, the same man you nearly killed a few months ago, came by and made me an offer. And I accepted that offer." He said, even as his hand slowly moved for the sword that was hidden under his desk._

"_What kind of offer?" Jagaa's fears were growing quickly, knowing what kind of man Tsuki's father was. His anger was rising, but he held it in._

"_A business offer, of course. He gives me financing, new establishments, more men, and a guarantee that he will not try to disrupt my business in anyway. And in exchange I give him Tsuki." His hand was almost on the hilt of the sword he was reaching for; all he had to do was distract the boy a moment longer. "Personally, I found it to be a very profitable guugrglgrgl."_

_He never finished, as Jagaa's blade sliced through his throat. Jagaa didn't even look back at the man that was now drowning in his own blood before he ran out of the office._

_X X X X X_

_Jagaa raced through the village, guided only by his feelings. Feelings he wished to Kami he had listened to last night. He couldn't think strait; the only thing that mattered now was finding her._

_His blind running eventually led him to the docks on the outskirts of town, where a very large crowd caught his attention. Fearing the worst, Jagaa plowed strait into the crowed, roughly shoving people out of his way to get to the front._

_The sight that awaited him made his blood run cold, and would become one of his worst nightmares for the rest of his life._

_Behind the fence that separated them, he saw Tsuki. She had been stripped naked and tied to a cross. Her face and body were badly bruised from being mercilessly beaten, and her mouth and forehead were dripping blood._

_The dried blood that stained the inside of her thighs made it gruesomely clear that she had been raped, and Jagaa felt sick as his memory replayed every rape scene he had ever come across. Giving him an all too clear knowledge of just what kind of things they had done to her._

_But her eyes, her eyes were the worst of it all. They were empty, hollow… lifeless, as if her spirit had been ripped away, to leave nothing but an empty shell, a shell that was just waiting to die as well._

"_TSUKI!" Jagaa roared as he charged the fence and slashed his way through it. In a second he was at the cross, slashing the bindings that held her, and catching her before she could hit the ground. Throwing his sword on the ground beside him, Jagaa gently cradled her head in his lap._

"_Tsuki, oh Kami, please, Tsuki!" Jagaa didn't know what to do. For the first time, Jagaa felt truly helpless, as he held the only person in the world he could ever remember caring about._

_Tsuki's bruised and bleeding face slowly turned to look up at the boy who held her. When her lifeless eyes came to rest on Jagaa's face, they seemed to spark from deep within, and filled with such pure happiness, that Jagaa felt his heart clench._

"_Jagaa," Her voice was hoarse and weak, but layered with joy. "I knew you would come to save me."_

_Jagaa almost wretched at her words, how could she say something like that when he so obviously had not gotten there in time? What made it worse… was that she was completely sincere in her words._

"_Oh Kami, Tsuki, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I should have known! I should have followed you! I could have…" Jagaa was stopped by soft fingertips lying gently over his lips._

"_Shhh, it's not your fault. You tried to warn me, but I didn't listen. It's my fault." She smiled softly at him, gazing into his face as if trying to drink in every detail, the hand that had covered his lips now gently caressing his cheek. "I'm just so happy I could see you again, one last time."_

_The caressing hand slowly rose, and touched his dark sunglasses. With a gentle pull, she took them away from his face, and was now staring strait into his eyes. Letting the glasses fall, she put her hand back to his cheek._

"_So beautiful," She whispered, as she gazed into his slit pupils and emerald irises, surrounded by soft yellow instead of white. She had loved these eyes from the first moment she had seen them._

"_Please don't die, Tsuki. I don't want to lose you." His voice was low and cracking as he held his hand over the one she still held to his cheek, the tears that wanted to fall glistening in his eyes._

"_You never will." Her voice was barley a whisper, but the smile never left her face, even as the light that had returned began to die in her eyes. "I love you." Was the last thing to reach his ears, before the hand he held under his own went limp._

_Jagaa's cry rang through the skies. So filled was it with pain and loss, that all who heard it felt their hearts wrench. Except for one man._

"_Well, well, it looks like the little bitch finally died. With all that internal bleeding, it should have happened much sooner. I guess she was holding on just to see you. Ha ha ha, isn't that just so sweet."_

_At the edge of the docks, already standing on a boat with no more than ten guards was Gatoh. If Jagaa had looked, he would have seen the sadistically gleeful smirk the little man wore._

"_She cried out for you, you know." The ugly man continued in gleeful spite. "Every time we beat her, every time she was raped, she would cry out for you. Screaming how sorry she was for not listening to you, that it was her fault." Gatoh's smirk widened. "And every time we forced her to orgasm, she would scream out your name, and then beg for your forgiveness. Ha ha ha, isn't that just priceless?"_

_Jagaa didn't respond, he only gently lowered Tsuki's head and lay her down on the ground. Still silent, he removed his sheath from his back, followed by the black hoodie he wore. An audible gasp rose from both Gatoh's men, and the crowd that watched as they all saw the scars he carried, but he never heard it. He simply sliced the black clothing in half, and used the pieces to cover Tsuki._

_Slowly, the boy rose up from his knees, dragging his sword with him, and turned his gaze upon Gatoh. The fear that shone in the eyes of Gatoh and his men when they saw his gaze came not from the difference of the boy's eyes, but what lie behind them. Death._

_Jagaa attacked, his eyes fixed on Gatoh as the little man screamed for the captain to go and for his men to kick off the access plank. Jagaa didn't even slow as he neared the edge of the dock and with a powerful leap sailed over the distance of the docks and the boat, his jump intending to send him strait into Gatoh._

_Gatoh's life was saved that day by a large man wielding a giant metal club like weapon and swinging it like a bat. Jagaa was forced to use his blade to intercept the attack, the force of the blow completely stopping him in mid air even as it began to push him back._

_For an instant, time stood still, as Jagaa's eyes locked onto Gatoh's. Rage, pain, loss, hatred, and bloodlust all combining into something so terrifying, that Gatoh would swear that he saw black fire burning in Jagaa's eyes, and the gates of hell opening behind them. Even as those eyes made the unspoken promise that Jagaa would be the one to send him through them._

"_A demon." Gatoh whispered in terror._

_With those words, time resumed, and the force of the intercepted blow sent Jagaa flying so far, that he slammed into the cross, snapping it in half. Without so much as a grunt of pain, Jagaa stood up. It was as if all physical pain was being dwarfed by a much deeper pain, so great that he could not feel anything else._

_Jagaa could only stare after the boat that was now well out into the waves. His rage, his hatred, his desire to kill, it burned to new heights as the man who killed Tsuki escaped. But even in his fury, he realized something, something that he would never be forgiven._

"_Why didn't you help her?" He didn't look at them, but every person in the crowd winced back from his words. "All this time, you all have said how great a person she is. How much you all love her. And yet, you all stood there and watched her die without even trying to help her. Why?"_

"_Th-they had weapons, we didn't. We would have been killed if we had attacked them unarmed. What could we have ahhh." The rock that had embedded itself into his skull, shut the man up as he died. The remainder of the crowd watched in horror, as four others fell. Two were impaled by broken broomsticks, one with another rock, and one with a dagger like piece of metal. Jagaa never spoke it, but the meaning was clear. All things are weapons._

_Jagaa now stood in the middle of the crowd, they had never seen him move while they were distracted by the deaths. "There are hundreds of you here, there were ten of them. You try to tell me there was nothing you could do!" Jagaa's couldn't take it anymore. All control, all restraint vanished. The damns of his rage were ripped apart by his grief. A desire to kill like unlike anything he had ever felt before, a rage even greater than what he had felt towards Gatoh, flared out of him so powerfully, that everyone in the area fell to their knees, clutching their hearts. Gatoh may have killed Tsuki, but these people who stood before him now had done far worse. They had betrayed her._

_He now knew the true reason behind Tsuki's lifeless eyes. They were the eyes of one who had been forsaken and betrayed by everyone she had ever thought cared for her, as they simply watched, and left her to die._

"_You all would rather cower in fear to protect your own worthless lives, than to try to save someone as pure hearted as her. None of you deserve the lives you have." His voice had become low, but his killing desire rose so high, that many people's hearts burst from the strain they had been placed under. Jagaa's next words were the last any of them would ever hear._

"_None of you will leave here alive."_

_X X X X X_

_It was two days later that Jagaa stood in the middle of a vast flower field next to a freshly covered grave, a single, large stone marking it for all who may pass. As Jagaa stand there, staring at the spot Tsuki now lay, his mind drifted back to that last, beautiful smile she had given him. The smile that had stayed on her face even as her soul left her body._

_He knew. He knew, now, why she had held on as long as she did. She had indeed been waiting for him. Waiting for the one person she had left, that she knew would never abandon her. It was this knowledge that made her words fall so heavily into place._

'I knew you would come to save me._'_

_He _had_ saved her, saved her from the pain of dying abandoned, and alone. And instead, let her die peacefully in the arms of the only person in the world who truly cared about her. The one person she knew…loved her._

'I love you._'_

_The whispered words repeated in his mind like a clear, unending echo, his heart constricting with pain at every sounding. "I love you too." He said quietly. "More than I ever knew."_

_Jagaa felt dead inside, as if his heart had died along with Tsuki. The only thing keeping him from joining it was the desire to kill Gatoh, no matter what the cost. With eyes as dead as the heart within him, Jagaa looked around the field that he lay Tsuki to rest in. The thousands of flowers were beautiful as the sun light danced on their petals. Jagaa was glad that, even should he die and be unable to come back, Tsuki would always have flowers. Turning back to the stone marker, Jagaa spoke again._

"_I know, that you wouldn't have liked what I did to the villagers, or what I am going to do to Gatoh, but it's what I am, a demon." Jagaa let out a humorless laugh, "A demon, there was once a time that I would have given everything to lose that title. To be a normal human like everyone else. But now, I'm glad I was never seen as human. Humans betray each other, torture each other, use each other for their own gains, allow lust to control their hearts to the point of rape, and kill each other for no other reason than to kill."_

"_I have killed, but only those who prey on the weak or helpless. I have been touched by lust, through those who would lust for me. But never have I betrayed, never have I harmed those undeserving. If that is the difference of a human to a demon, then I will take on the title of a demon with pride."_

_Jagaa reached out a gentle hand and laid it on the stone to which he spoke. "You Tsuki nee-chan, you were not human. You were too pure to be human. You were an angel." He let out a soft smile, and for a small time, warmth returned to his eyes. "Thank you. Thank you for showing me, that even demons have hearts. That even demons can love, and be loved." When Jagaa took his hand away from the stone, his eyes had once again become lifeless voids, hidden behind black tinted lenses. The only thing left for him, was vengeance._

"_Good bye."_

_With one last look, Jagaa turned from the final resting place of the only person he had ever cared about, and started his hunt for the one that had taken her from him. As he walked the wind started to blow softly through the surrounding trees, bringing with it a message that, for a moment, gave him a sense of peace, and the feeling that he may not have truly lost her._

'I'll always be with you._'_

///Flashback End///

Around the campfire emotions played on everyone's faces as Jagaa finished his story. Ino and Haku cried openly, Haku clinging to Tora (who could only stare at Jagaa in shock and disbelief) and Ino clinging to Naruto.

Tazuna refused to look at Jagaa, even as tears rolled down his face. The knowledge that his own village had betrayed a man and let him die in much the same way was too much for him to bear.

Kakashi and Zabuza, both being hardened Jounin and having seen many terrible things in their lives, hid their own emotions on the matter as any true ninja would. The only thing they had ever let slip, was the grim satisfaction they had each felt at the way Jagaa had dealt with those that just watched it happen. Kakashi, because of his feelings on how only trash would have sat back and allowed that to happen, and Zabuza because he felt that a couple hundred people too afraid to stand up to less than a dozen didn't deserve to live anyway.

Sasuke was blinking rapidly, his hands gripping the log he sat on so tightly that it was beginning to splinter, as he remembered all too clearly the pain of losing everything you had ever cared about.

Naruto could only stare at his older brother with tears in his eyes, and the trail of others going down his whiskered cheeks. He wanted to say something, anything, but the words would not come. So lost in his brother's painful story was he, that he didn't even notice the girl he had a crush on was crying into his shoulder.

"So that's what happened." Jagaa's said, even as his voice cracked ever so slightly from his hidden pain. "Less than two months after my eighth birthday, I lost everything that I had ever cared about, and became a hollow shell that lived solely for revenge. For almost two years I hunted Gatoh, and almost caught up to him several times. Because of that, Gatoh put a huge bounty on my head to slow me down, and hopefully kill me. And that was my life, until I ended up in Konoha."

"So it was you." Zabuza spoke up suddenly. "I had a feeling that it was, but I wanted to be sure. It's not everyday that you meet someone so young with a five million ryou bounty on their head." Zabuza stared hard at Jagaa. "It's also a pleasure to meet someone who shares a similar name, isn't that right 'Demon of the Darkness'." Everyone gaped at Zabuza, as his declaration broke them from their individual emotions. They all looked to Jagaa to see if he would give some kind of refute.

Jagaa seemed thoughtful, as he tilted his head up to look at the stars. "I never did understand how I got that name, and not something like 'Demon Eye Jagaa' or 'Bloody Demon'. I guess it was because I killed almost everyone at night."

"Most likely," Zabuza said, "Anyway, you are lucky that anyone who had any real strength thought that a bounty that large on a kid your age that didn't come from a hidden village was some kind of joke, especially when they gave you that name. It's probably the only reason you are still alive today."

"I always did wonder about that. But it never really mattered; I don't think dying would have bothered me that much. It's not like I had anything to live for at the time anyways." Jagaa then put on a huge smile that made Naruto wince. It was exactly like the one he himself would wear to hide his pain from those around him in the past. "Well, at least no one can say that I wasn't independent for such a young age, eh. Traveling from place to place, sexually pleasing women, killing rapists in alleys, I'd say overall that…"

"STOP IT!" Naruto yelled suddenly, making even Jagaa jump in surprise. "Stop hiding behind that smile and sarcastic humor!" Tears were falling freely from Naruto's eyes even as he glared at his brother. "To have someone who meant so much to you die in your arms. How can you try to make that sound casual? I don't even want to imagine losing someone I love like that!" Naruto's voice rose again, "Stop hiding damn it! You told us you don't lie, so quit trying to lie to yourself!" Naruto clenched his eyes shut as he tried to stop the tears that continued to fall.

It was when a gentle hand came to rest on top of his golden hair, that Naruto finally opened his eyes and found himself looking strait into Jagaa's un covered ones. It was all there, sadness, loss, pain, rage, all of it. But on top of those were more. Affection, hope, understanding, wisdom, and caring were all visible inside his eyes as well.

This time when Jagaa smiled, it was a real smile, a sad one, but real all the same. "I smile, Naruto, because I can't cry. I've spent to long drowning my tears in blood so deeply that I no longer know how to reach them." Jagaa's smile widened a bit, and a bit of happiness shone through, "Besides, since I met you, I haven't needed to."

By now the group around Jagaa and Naruto had settled most of their own emotions, and were focused on the sight of Jagaa's unhidden eyes. They all had to admit that, when they didn't look like they belonged on a corpse, his eyes really were a sight to behold. With one more, true smile to Naruto, Jagaa put his sunglasses back over his eyes and moved back to his seat on the log.

"So that's the story of my life before I ended up in Konoha. Was it everything you hoped for?" If looks could kill, Jagaa was sure he would be in the ninth level of hell from the glares he got.

"Don't make jokes like that, damn it!" Ino said as she continued to glare at him. "And why are you acting like your done? You still haven't told us about how you got to Konoha, or how you met Naruto and Sasuke!"

"Well as to how I got there, it's simple. I was found half dead after, a run in with a particularly stubborn bunch of bounty hunters, by someone from Konoha coming back from a mission or something. That person took me to the hospital, and poof, I was in Konoha." Jagaa said. His voice then took on a certain seriousness that was hard to ignore. "But that truly is the end of MY story. After that," Jagaa motioned to Naruto and Sasuke "It's OUR story."

Jagaa then turned his full attention back to Naruto. "Which means, Otouto, that it's continuation depends on you now. If we go on, the only ones who will understand what happened are Kakashi and Sasuke, since they are the only ones who know. If we continue without the back story, it will raise questions that you won't be able to avoid. Do you understand?"

Naruto nodded. He knew Jagaa would give him the option to stop the story completely, but Naruto also knew that it would be unfair to Jagaa if he did. Besides, he had told Jagaa that he needed to stop hiding, and Naruto would not be a hypocrite by not following his own advice, just as Jagaa had said about his advice to Sasuke. So with firm resolve in his voice, Naruto spoke to the group assembled around the campfire.

"I guess it's my turn to stop hiding now. So, the first thing I guess I should do is ask if you all know about the Kyuubi."

**A/N: **Hoped you all liked it, and that I didn't make to many mistakes. I didn't have much time to proofread. Next chapter we get to see how Naruto and Sasuke met Jagaa, along with why the Hokage tends to be on edge when Jagaa seems to be getting angry. See you all next time.


	10. How brothes met

**A/N:** Sorry for the wait on the update, this chapter took way longer to write than it should have. Any way, seeing as this is my tenth chapter and kind of like a milestone for me. I have decided to give a shout out to everyone who has ever reviewed me as a thank you for the time you took to read my story and give me some encouragement.

So without further ado, special thanks to; **Tiffyki**, **Sportygurl2006**, **Chaos61636**, **Shrine Keeper of Rei Ayanami**, **Karg42chm01**, **Archangle630**, **geeker**, **Scrabble and Dice**, **Bats-Supes**, **WingsofEagle**, **Kitsune6**, **The Locokage**, **RobotPirateNinja****, Shinso, ****MidnightRayn13**, **Arkaine Deao**, **saiyan prince1****, Tori, ****Stewart92**, **Dragon Noir****, Amanda Pearce, ****Ero-kun** and**aquakyuubi**. Thanks all of you for your support, you all rock. I just hope that I can continue to write well enough for you all to enjoy the story.

**Disclaimer:** No matter how much I want to, I do not own Naruto. But I'm okay with it because I know that there are many others out there that wish to own Naruto and don't as well. So I don't feel quite so bad.

**Chapter 10:** How Brothers Met

Ino, Tazuna, Haku, Tora, and Zabuza were all staring at Naruto in utter shock. He had just finished telling them about the Kyuubi being sealed inside of him, and giving them a small overview of what his life had been like before meeting Jagaa.

The staring, though, was still going on several minutes after Naruto had stopped talking, and he was beginning to shift rather uncomfortably under their wide eyed gaze.

"Now you know how I felt every time you all did it to me," Jagaa muttered quietly as he leaned over by Naruto's ear, earning him a rather nervous laugh. Naruto was really starting to worry about nobody saying anything. Did they think he was a demon now? Would they reject him just like the villagers? More thoughts along those lines were swimming rapidly inside Naruto's head as he waited for somebody, _anybody_, to say something.

Naruto's silent please were finally answered by Haku, who looked at him with a thoughtful expression. "So, you have the Kyuubi sealed inside you?" Naruto gave a confirmation nod, "Well I guess that explains what happened on the bridge."

"Are you talking about that massive chakra spike? I was wondering where that came from," Tora said to the dark haired girl, who nodded in response.

"When he thought I killed Sasuke, his anger took over and his power grew to exponential heights. My guess is that he tapped into the Kyuubi's power through his rage," Haku stated as if she were simply talking about the weather.

"You seem to be taking this awfully well," Zabuza said to her.

"Have you forgotten Zabuza-san? My own father killed my mother, and tried to kill me, for no other reason than that we had a kekkei genkai. I am all too familiar with being hated for something I had absolutely no control over," Haku said in a firm voice, giving him a look that showed very clearly that she was done discussing the issue.

While the Kiri nin were having their conversation on the side. Ino was silently trying to process everything she had just learned about Naruto. Just as it had for Sasuke, all the pieces were finally falling into place. All the glares Naruto would get walking down the street, her mother always telling her to stay away from him, it all made sense. But even as she thought about this, Haku's last sentence struck a deep chord within her. Haku was right. Naruto hadn't asked to have the demon put inside him. He had been a fucking infant for Kami's sake. And yet, with only the little Naruto had told them, she knew that he had been ostracized, beaten, and even nearly killed for something he had no say in. As these new revelations struck home, Ino found herself inclined to agree with Jagaa's opinion of humans being worse than demons.

"Ino?"

Ino snapped back to reality at the sound of her name. Looking up, she found herself looking straight into Naruto's ocean blue eyes. She could see his anxiety as he waited for her to give some sort of response to his revelation, his fear that she would see him just as the villagers did, as nothing more than the demon itself. But what hurt the most, was the resolve she saw in his eyes. As if he fully expected her to do just as he feared, and was preparing for the emotional pain that would follow. The reason it hurt so much, was because a few years ago, before the day he had come into her family's flower shop, it would have been true.

But not now, not now that she knew the real Naruto. Not the hyper, loud, ramen obsessed boy that everyone knew him as, but the kind, generous, warm, strong, courageous, never give up Naruto, who dreamed of becoming Hokage so he would be strong enough to protect all those who he holds dear. The Naruto she met in her flower shop that day.

Without consciously thinking about it, without even realizing she was doing it until her body had started moving, Ino walked over to Naruto and pulled him into a tight embrace. Naruto's shock was more than a little evident as his mind reeled from the unexpected act. "I-Ino, what are you…?" He tried to ask before he was cut off.

"You are no demon, Naruto. You are too compassionate to be a demon." Ino pulled back from Naruto just far enough so that her crystal blue eyes could stare into his sapphire ones. "Besides," she said with a slight smirk, "I highly doubt that a demon would have any sort of interest in flowers and gardening," With that, she pulled the still dumbstruck boy into another embrace.

If Ino's eyes had been opened, or Naruto not facing the wrong way, they would have seen a potentially embarrassing sight going on. This being Jagaa and Sasuke giving each other air high fives, and Kakashi looking from the hugging pair, then to his book, then back to them, then back to his book again, all the while giggling perversely at the similar situations.

"This is starting to get a little too mushy for me. So the kid has a demon inside of him, and has had a shitty life because of it. I get it. Now, can we _please_ get on with the story?" Zabuza said a bit impatiently.

Both Naruto and Ino leapt apart, deep blushes showing clearly on each of their faces. Jagaa, a bit peeved that a perfect opportunity to initiate a couple schemes had been blown by the impatient Jounin, satisfied himself by flipping the bandaged faced man off before continuing.

"Well like I said, I was found half dead after a particularly ugly scuffle with a good sized group of bounty hunters and taken to Konoha hospital. That's where Naruto and I first met."

///Flashback///

_White, sterilized walls, clean white sheets, and a bed that was borderline between comfortable and not, he was in the Hospital again._

_Waking up to these sights and feelings were an all__ too__ frequent occurrence for Naruto. For as long as he could remember, he had been attacked by villagers on a fairly regular basis. And for some reason, the attacks would always increase in number and severity whenever Naruto's birthday was coming up. Since his birthday happened to be tomorrow, it had already begun, making this his third time in as many days waking up in the white walled building._

"_Why? Why do they hate me so much? What did I ever do to them?" Naruto whispered to himself, as he fought to keep the tears from forming in his eyes. He wouldn't cry. Not for them. He refused to cry for them. He would show all of them that he was worth something. He would become the Hokage, the greatest ninja in the village, and then everyone would recognize his worth._

"_Yosh!" He yelled out, pumping his fist into the air with renewed vigor, and putting on his big, foxy grin. With his smile still in place, he looked around the room he had been put in this time. His smile was replaced by his mouth hanging open in complete surprise when he saw that he was not the only one in the room._

_This was something that didn't happen often. Actually, it never happened. Any other time Naruto had been put in a room that someone else was in, that person would immediately ask for a room transfer, or to be released from the hospital, and would leave with or without permission. It had gotten to the point that the hospital staff had started making sure he was always put in an empty room to save themselves the headache._

_Unable to contain his curiosity, Naruto carefully made his way over to his sleeping roommate. The first thing he noticed, was that the other occupant was a boy and at least Naruto's age, but probably older. The next thing he noticed was the white, bloodstained bandages that were wrapped around the entire length of his left arm._

_As Naruto got closer, he had to stifle a gasp when he saw the unbandaged parts of the boy's upper body. His arm, his chest, his stomach, even partially his neck, all had some sort of large scar running across or down it. Naruto could only imagine what was hidden beneath his bandages and the sheets that covered his lower half._

_Because of his fascination with what he was seeing, Naruto didn't realize just how close he was getting to the sleeping boy as he leaned in to get a better look. Without warning, Naruto felt the front of his shirt grabbed roughly before he was thrown backwards and into the wall._

_From instincts born of repeated beatings, Naruto curled into the fetal position as he yelled out an apology. "I'm sorry! I wasn't going to do anything! Please don't hurt me!" Even as he yelled, Naruto had no illusions that it would make __any__ difference. It never did after all. All he could do now was lie there curled into a defensive ball as he waited for the other boy to start his attack. But the blows never came._

"_Are you okay, kid?"_

_Naruto started a little in surprise when he heard the question. Not only was this other boy not attacking him, he seemed to be concerned for Naruto. At first, Naruto wanted to believe that it was some kind of ploy, a way to get him to lower his guard to provide better opportunities to strike him. It had happened before after all. __Someone would__ pretend to care or be concerned, only to attack him the moment he felt he could trust them. So even though the question seemed to hold no malice, or ill will, Naruto was not sure if he should trust the strange boy._

"_Kid?" The boy was right next to Naruto now, but even still, Naruto felt nothing resembling hatred, or even resentment. Despite his fears of a trick, Naruto felt himself uncurling his head from its protection behind his arms. Even if he probably shouldn't trust this stranger, he needed to. Naruto needed to trust, hoping that someday he would find that one person who was sincere in their kindness. It was the only way he could make it through his life without breaking down. Slowly, Naruto raised his head to look at the unknown boy, and found himself looking into the most incredible eyes he had ever seen._

_The pupils were slits instead of circles and were surrounded by pure green Irises that shone like emeralds. __Instead of the area surrounding the iris being white, his were__ a soft, almost golden yellow. But it wasn't so much the difference of his eyes that made them so incredible, it was what lie behind them._

_At first glance, one would almost think they were dead, empty, but Naruto could see more. Pain, loss, anger, regret, and loneliness, were far__ too__ easy to see for the young Naruto, seeing as he knew the same sort of pain all to well. But in this boys eyes there was also experience, and wisdom that put Naruto in a state of awe, well as an animal__-__like fierceness that Naruto prayed would never be directed at him._

_As Naruto continued to stare into the similar, but so different, eyes of the boy in front of him, Naruto saw a myriad of emotions play through them. First, was a kind wonder, followed by some sort of recognition, which quickly faded into a rueful remembrance. Then, the fierceness Naruto saw in his eyes before suddenly became out full force, as if vowing unspeakable pain upon a certain person. Naruto was only thankful that that vow did not seem to be for him._

"_What's your name?" Naruto could only remember a handful of times that anyone had even bothered to ask him that, with most people quickly turning hostile at the answer. But now, Naruto knew, somehow, that it wouldn't happen this time. Just as he somehow knew, that this time the question was, special, for some reason._

_With a huge, happy smile, Naruto answered. "My name is Naruto__ Uzumaki Naruto." Almost as an afterthought Naruto decided to add what he had wanted to say for a while now__ "You have really cool eyes."_

_X X X_

'_Yosh!' was the first thing Jagaa heard as he felt consciousness painfully returning to him. His head felt fuzzy, and his body didn't seem to want to move. Jagaa decided that he must have gotten pretty fucked up this time. 'Kami damned bounty hunters, twenty to one is just bullshit__ no matter who you're going after. It didn't really help that these ones actually seemed to have some skill, well, at least more than the normal alley trash that comes after me__' He may have continued his mental rant a little longer, if it weren't for the fact that, at that moment, he felt some sort of presence leaning over him._

_With instincts born of continuous fighting, Jagaa's hand snapped out and grabbed the shirt of the person leaning over him. With a hard shove mixed with a slight toss, Jagaa got the assailant as far away from him as possible, only barely noticing how light the person he had just thrown was. Eyes snapping open, Jagaa leapt from off his back to stand on the bed he had been laying in and immediately started to take note of his surroundings._

_He was in a hospital room. That much was obvious having been in a couple for various wounds that needed treating. His examination also told him, to his great displeasure, that his sword and sunglasses were no where to be seen. He could live with the loss of his shirt, but the other items were a different story. He was about to let out a few choice curses that would have made a sailor cringe, when a voice cried out off to the side._

"_I'm sorry! I wasn't going to do anything! Please don't hurt me!" The voice cried pitifully. Jagaa could tell just by how it sounded that whoever it was that was yelling was young. That in itself was surprising, seeing as he knew what kind of state __he__ and the bounty hunters would have been in when he __had been found. He__ was surprised anyone would be in the room with him, let alone a kid. For that matter, why had he not been chained to the bed or at least had guards posted around him? What the hell kind of place was this?_

_His __curiosity aroused,__ Jagaa looked over to where the voice had come from. He was completely unprepared for the sight that awaited him._

_The boy before him was curled into the fetal position with his arms wrapped around his head and obviously terrified. It may not have been so strange considering Jagaa had just thrown him across the room, but the boy was also letting off an air of __depressed acceptance.__As if he was sure that his apology (despite the fact he had technically done nothing wrong) would fall on deaf ears and some sort of beating or other punishment would follow. As Jagaa looked on, he had flashbacks of some of his earliest memories from the first village he had been in, as he lay curled on the ground trying to stave off the beating that the villagers were giving him for no apparent reason._

_He was also feeling the rising need to go kill someone._

_Shoving down his emotions as deeply as he could get them, Jagaa decided that it was time to reassure the little blonde boy in front of him moved off the bed to get closer. "Are you okay, kid?" He asked in the nicest voice he could. Jagaa noticed the boy jump slightly, as if completely caught off guard by the question. For a minute he didn't move, causing Jagaa to wonder if the boy was hurt or really just that scared. "Kid?" he tried again while leaning closer, this time being rewarded to the sight of the boy slowly removing his arms from around his head and raising it up to look straight into Jagaa's eyes._

_In all the life he could remember, Jagaa had never seen eyes as blue as the ones he saw now. It was like looking into the clear ocean on a perfect day. The cerulean eyes shined with an innocence, compassion, and purity that Jagaa had only ever seen once before in his life, and (suggestion; then only) for a moment__ Jagaa felt all the pain and sadness that he had tried so hard to bury come rushing back to the surface of his heart as Tsuki's hazel__-__green eyes over shadowed the ocean blue ones in front of him._

_Once again shoving his emotions as deep as he could get them, Jagaa looked back into the eyes before him. It was then that he saw what was hidden beneath the pureness of the surface. Loneliness, sadness, pain, and __fear all hovered__ behind the kind innocence, as if the boy had suffered more than he wanted anyone to believe. In truth, Jagaa would have missed it, if he had not seen the same sort of emotions in his own eyes so many times before._

_Seeing that hidden pain behind eyes that reminded him so much of Tsuki brought up anger inside Jagaa that he couldn't quite understand, and hadn't felt anything like in years. All he could think about was how he wanted to find whoever had put that pain in this young boy's eyes, and kill them in the most painful way he could think of._

_It was at that moment that Jagaa decided to ask the question he had only asked once before in his life. "What's your name?" The boy looked a little surprised at first, but the surprise was quickly replaced with the biggest smile Jagaa had ever seen._

"_My name is Naruto__ Uzumaki Naruto__" There was a slight pause, and then the boy said something that (in Jagaa's opinion) practically guaranteed the very painful death of anyone who had ever hurt him. "You have really cool eyes."_

///Flashback End///

"So that's how we met," Jagaa said after he and Naruto finished, "Was it interesting?"

"What?!" Ino screamed at the two other blondes, "There has to more to it then that! That wouldn't have enough to make us start asking about the Kyuubi!"

"I never said that was the end of the story, Ino. I just said that was how we met, and asked if it was interesting," Jagaa said with a mischievous smirk, while Naruto sniggered beside him.

Ino stopped short of the retort she was going to throw at the older blonde, deciding to stick her tongue out him instead, following that with a glare to the sniggering Naruto. Jagaa simply laughed at her antics while Naruto (having been cowed by Ino's glare) pressed on.

"Anyway," Naruto said quickly, "almost as soon as I told him my name Ojii-san showed up and…"

///Flashback///

"_Well, it looks as if the two of you are getting along rather well__" An elderly voice came from the doorway sounding slightly amused._

"_Ojii-san!" Naruto yelled happily at the new arrival._

_Turning around to face the door, Jagaa found himself looking at a rather old man in red and white robes, an oversized matching hat, and a pipe in his right hand. Jagaa also couldn't help but notice the kindness that shone out of the old man__'__s eyes._

_Flanking the old man, two on each side, were four people wearing matching armor, and various animal masks. The two on the left were both male, each with unruly brown hair sticking over their dog masks. One of the two on the right was female, with long black hair and wearing a cat mask. The last one was another male, only he had short red hair and wore a..._

"_Question," Jagaa said to the group, "Is there a reason that the red haired guy is wearing a chicken mask?" The question managed to put everyone in the room, besides Jagaa and the bird masked man, into a varying degree of laughter._

"_It's not a chicken, it's an eagle!" It was pretty easy to tell that the man was clenching his teach when he spoke._

_Jagaa gave him a look that spoke volumes. "Well then you need to take a look at a real eagle, because it looks like a chicken, Birdbrain."_

_If the vein that appeared just over the top of his mask was any indication, the man did not take his new nickname well. Naruto, however, loved it._

_The old man quickly stepped in to cut off any ensuing violence__ "So, who are you boy? Where do you come from? And why were you traveling alone?"_

"_My name is Jagaa. As to your other questions, that's none of your business__" Jagaa replied steadily._

_The newly designated 'Birdbrain' moved slightly as if to say something, but the old man cut him off by holding up his hand__ "Well then, how about telling us what brings you to Konoha then?"_

"_My guess on that would be whoever carried my half dead ass here, old man."_

"_Show some respect to the Hokage!" Birdbrain almost shouted._

_Jagaa's eyes hardened as he turned his attention to the bird masked man, making even the Hokage fight the urge to step backward from the pure intensity of the glare__ "Listen and listen well Birdbrain, I respect no one who has not _earned_ my respect. I could give a shit about whatever title or rank this man holds in the village. I will show him respect when he has given me reason to respect him, and only then."_

_The Hokage, along with his four masked escorts, were slightly taken aback by the maturity and strength in the boys words. It was becoming clear that this scarred, strange eyed boy in front of them was far more than they had expected._

_Naruto was just in awe of how badass he thought Jagaa had sounded._

"_It would seem, there is more to you than meets the eye." The Hokage said with a thoughtful expression._

"_That holds true for everyone." Jagaa said, "Now, would you mind giving me back my sword, my sunglasses, and my shirt? I can understand you needing to take them, though I still don't get the lack of a guard, but I'm starting to get a little edgy without them."_

_The Hokage considered the request for a moment before turning to the women in the cat mask and giving her a nod. With an acknowledging nod, the woman walked out the door, only to return a moment later with the items in question._

"_Are you sure this is wise Hokaga-sama? He may try to attack." Birdbrain asked. His body tensing slightly as he prepared for a fight._

"_If this young boy is capable of killing a Kage and four ANBU, then I doubt it would make a difference if he had his sword or not." A sudden twinkle of amusement came to the old mans eyes. "Besides, I don't think an assassin would be so polite."_

_Birdbrain__'s__ slightly embarrassed cough was quickly followed by the sniggering of Naruto and the two dog masked ANBU._

_By now, the cat masked woman had already walked up to Jagaa and was holding out his belongings. Jagaa tried to take them from her, but found that she was still holding them rather firmly, and that the way her face was tilted meant she was staring at him hard. Jagaa knew that she was most likely just caught up in the sight of his eyes and scars, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to have some fun with her as payback._

"_You know, Kitten. You shouldn't stare so hard, people might get the wrong idea." Jagaa said loudly enough for everyone to hear. The woman jumped a bit and was about to pull away when Jagaa caught her by the wrist and pulled her in closer. He followed that up by bringing his mouth close to her ear and whispering seductively. "But if you really like what you see that much, I would be glad to show you just what I could _do_ for you." He emphasized by discreetly rubbing sliding his free hand up her thigh and gently stroking her crotch._

_With a startled gasp, the newly named 'Kitten' jumped away from Jagaa and stood panting slightly against the wall, her blush reaching all the way down her neck._

"_Holy fuck, he made her blush!" one of the dog masked men said in shock. The other man was so stunned he could only nod mutely in amazement._

_The Hokage looked on in fascination as the young boy who could be no older than ten, made as seasoned__ANBU__ Kunoichi blush like a twelve year old school girl. Only one thought was going through the old mans mind. '_I must learn from him._'_

_Naruto just gaped at the older boy who had put on his black hoodie and was now strapping his sword to his back as if nothing had happened. Just before he before he put on his sunglasses, Jagaa looked at Naruto and winked mischievously, just before his eyes disappeared from sight._

"_Well," Jagaa said turning back to the Hokage, "Thanks for patching me up and all, but I should probably get going__." Had he still been looking in Naruto's direction he would have seen the look of disappointment on Naruto's face._

_At Jagaa's words the Hokage felt a slight panic start to rise. He didn't know exactly why, but he knew that he couldn't let this boy __leave just__ yet. The look on Naruto's face was only a conformation of that. Naruto needed someone to be there for him and Jagaa could very well be just the person for the job._

_He was wise beyond his years and held firm to his own opinions, this having been displayed in his words on who he would respect and who he wouldn't. The scars on his body, and the fact he wasn't even flinching when he moved his injured arm, showed that he had not had an easy life, and may be the only one who could truly understand Naruto. Jagaa had to stay in Konoha._

_Thinking as fast as he could on how to keep the boy from leaving and staying of his own will, since trying to restrain him would probably defeat the purpose, the old man spoke quickly. "You know, you did just wake up after nearly dying, perhaps you should stay for a while and rest."_

"_Thanks, but no thanks. If I stopped every time I nearly died, I'd never get anywhere. Besides, I'm not all that fond of hospitals, and I don't feel like paying for a motel for more than a night."_

_As much as the old man wanted to be shocked about hearing a ten year old basically saying that he was nearly killed on a regular basis, he had more important things to worry about. "Well…you…could…" A light bulb went off in the old mans head. "You could stay with Naruto! He lives alone after all, so I don't think it would be a problem!" He said almost triumphantly._

_Jagaa had the refusal on his lips, when something in what the old man said__caught his attention__. '_He lives alone?_' The little blue eyed boy was obviously younger than himself. Why would he live alone? Looking at the boy in question, Jagaa felt his heart give a slight wrench. Naruto's eyes filled with such pure hope, that Jagaa couldn't muster the will power to decline the offer and destroy it. With a somewhat defeated sigh, he gave in. "So, where exactly do you live?"_

_The smile of pure joy that lit Naruto's face was so incredible, that Jagaa couldn't help but feel slight warmth in his heart at the sight._

_X X X X X_

_Naruto could not remember the last time he had been so happy. The boy named Jagaa that he had met in the hospital had stayed the night at Naruto's apartment, and actually seemed to enjoy it._

_At first Naruto had been scared of how the other boy would react to his, for lack of a better word, shitty little apartment, and had been more nervous than he had ever been as he opened the door. Jagaa, however, not only didn't seem to mind, he acted almost as if the room was a far cry better than where he normally stayed._

_The greatest surprise for the little blonde though, was when Jagaa had asked Naruto to tell him about himself, seeming to be honestly interested. As far back as he could remember, no one besides the old man Hokage had ever been interested in hearing about Naruto. It was with a happy smile, and a great deal of enthusiasm, that Naruto started telling Jagaa all about himself. Naruto told him that he was starting the ninja academy this year and about his dream to become the Hokage and get the entire village to recognize his worth (Jagaa only nodded at that, though his expression was slightly puzzled), he told him about all the pranks he had pulled (several of them getting laughs and congratulations), and of course Naruto told Jagaa all about his love of the glorious substance known by the gods as ramen (That alone taking up several hours) The only thing Naruto was careful not to mention was the way the villagers treated him. He was afraid that his new friend might think something was wrong with him, and decide not to stay after all._

_The whole time he talked, Naruto never once saw Jagaa's attention waver, not even during the ramen speech. It was as if he was perfectly content with allowing Naruto to talk as long as he wanted to talk. Unfortunately for Naruto even he had a limit, and eventually talked himself to sleep, the soft smile on his face being the only indicator of how happy he was feeling as he dreamed._

_X X X X X_

_The next day proved to be the next greatest time he could ever remember. Never before had Naruto had a friend, or even someone who would have anything to do with him besides the old man. But Jagaa was completely different. Not only did he not seem to mind being around Naruto, he had actually asked to go to 'Ichiraku's' ramen __s__tand since Naruto had told him so many good things about it. Jagaa only ended up eating two bowls of ramen, but amused himself by whispering things to Ayame (the ramen stand girl) that had her __inventing more than a few new shades of red__, as he waited for Naruto to finish his fifteenth._

_After they had finished eating, Naruto excitedly drug Jagaa to his favorite spot in the entire village, the top of the Hokage monument. Once there a pattern of exactly what had happened the night before came into play, with Naruto talking about anything and everything he could possibly think of to talk about, while Jagaa simply listened to the younger blonde, a soft smile barely visible on his face._

_For Jagaa, the night before and the following day had been what could best be described as a shock to his system. It had been a long time since he had interacted with someone and actually enjoyed it. He didn't know why, but the more time he spent with Naruto the more the little blonde grew on him. Sure Naruto had his faults. He was loud, ate enough ramen to feed several families, and wore the most horrendous looking orange jumpsuit Jagaa had ever seen, but he was such a kind, caring, innocent, and over all nice boy, that Jagaa found it easy to overlook those faults. (Well, except for the jumpsuit. Something definitely had to be done about that monstrosity) So much were the two enjoying themselves that they didn't even notice how late it had gotten until the sun began to set. Somewhat amazed at how fast the day went, the two blondes started their walk back to Naruto's apartment._

_As they walked back though, Jagaa noticed a distinct change in Naruto's behavior. No longer was he the bright, happy boy that he had been all day. Now he seemed afraid, almost panicky. He kept looking down alleys and watching the doors on the shops as if he expected something to jump out and attack him at any moment. This behavior may not have really caught Jagaa's attention so badly, if he had not been doing the exact same thing himself on a more subdued level. Years of having bounty hunters attacking you from out of no where could do that to a person. The problem was, that it also meant that Naruto was also used to being attacked on a regular basis. But that didn't make any sense. If what Jagaa had seen today was anything like how Naruto was normally, then he couldn't think of any reason whatsoever for him to have been attacked enough to be paranoid, he was just to damned nice a kid._

_Jagaa's thoughts were cut drastically short by the sound of an enraged shout. "There's the demon brat!" Jagaa's head snapped up to see the oncoming crowd of people. They were holding sticks, rocks, and other various weapons that they appeared to have picked up off the ground at random. Jagaa saw a few _very_ unwanted memories pass through his mind. This was looking way to familiar. Looking back the way they came, Jagaa was privileged to the sight of yet another crowd of armed people converging on the pair of blondes. This was just getting better and better._

_Jagaa's first thoughts were how the hell they found out about his eyes. Did someone tell them? If he had to guess, he would bet on birdbrain having done it after being thoroughly ticked off from their exchange in the hospital. Normally, a large group of villagers wouldn't be a problem seeing as how Jagaa was more than capable of defending himself. The problem stemmed from the fact that there was someone else with him. In a move one would never expect to see from Jagaa, he gently moved Naruto so that the younger blonde was directly behind him. With Naruto in a safer spot, Jagaa started backing the two of them down a side street that hadn't been blocked off._

"_Who the hell are you and why are you protecting that monster?!" The enraged shout stopped Jagaa cold. "Get out of the way and you won't be harmed! But even if you don't, __we're going to__get rid of that little monster once and for all!" With that said the crowd started advancing menacingly._

_How? How in the world could anyone say that Naruto was a demon? It made absolutely no sense. "Are you people fucking stupid?!" Jagaa shouted at the crowd. "I spent all of both last night and today with the boy, and all I know is that Naruto is closer to being a puppy than a fucking demon!"_

"_SHUT UP! You don't know what that monster is, what he did to us!" A woman yelled._

"_Other than the pranks that he has already told me about, I highly doubt that Naruto would have done a damn thing to any of you!" Jagaa would normally already attacked the stupid mob, but since he was trying to protect Naruto and had no clue why they were acting the way they were, he was trying to get some kind of information out of them, __and trying to buy some time to figure out__a way to get Naruto to safety first._

"_He's just some god damned demon sympathizer! He's no better than the demon he's protecting! We'll get rid of both of them!" The man who appeared to be the leader yelled out. With a roar of approval the crowd started to converge again._

_Jagaa's hand started to move to his sword since it seemed the peaceful solution had flopped. He was about to yell for Naruto to run while he held them off, when said boy suddenly screamed out in pain behind him. "I got him!" A male voice yelled. Jagaa spun around to see if Naruto was all right, but was frozen to the spot by what he saw. Naruto was once again curled up into the fetal position just like he had been in the hospital at first, but this time there was blood running down his forehead where a very large rock had struck. His eyes though, were sad, broken, and accepting, like a man condemned to death and was just waiting for the reaper's hand to claim him._

_But for the slightest moment, it wasn't Naruto that Jagaa saw lying there, it was himself. And Naruto's bright blue eyes were replaced by the lifeless hazel green ones of Tsuki on the day she died. Memories he tried so hard to bury slammed their way to the front of Jagaa's mind. His blood started to boil his vision was clouding in red, and through the midst of it all, Naruto's sad and broken voice cut through his mind and delivered the final, painful blow. "What did I ever do to any of them?"_

_The dams broke, and Jagaa snapped._

_X X X X X_

_The Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi, was in a very good mood as he walked down through the village streets in the fading sunlight. His plan was working far better than he could have __ever__ hoped. With the aid of his wonderful little crystal ball, the old man had watched the progress of Naruto and the mysterious Jagaa __throughout __the night as they talked and also through their day together. The way Jagaa treated Naruto was nothing short of wonderful in Sarutobi's eyes, not once had he treated the younger blonde with anything but kindness__. He even__ going so far as to put Naruto to bed and tuck him in after the hyper boy had finally fallen asleep. The next day had been much the same, as the old man watched the two boys go to the ramen stand and then to the Hokage monument._

_When he saw that the two boys were finally ready to leave the mountain, Sarutobi decided to put the next stage of his plan into action. So, using his knowledge of Naruto's chosen routes to get home, the old man prepared __to "coincidentally"__ run into them on their way back to the apartment, where he would then ask them how their day had been. If everything worked out the way he hoped it would, Sarutobi might be able to use Jagaa's seemingly growing attachment to Naruto to get him to stay, at least a while longer. He could work on making it a more lasting stay later._

_With his mind running through all the possible approaches he could use on Jagaa, the Sandaime continued on his planned intercept course. He was starting to near the area he was sure he would run into them, when an angry shout reached his ears._

"_He's just some god damned demon sympathizer! He's no better than the demon he's protecting! We'll get rid of both of them!"_

_The shout made it instantly clear to Sarutobi exactly what was going on. In a flash he was jumping the rooftops in the direction the shout had came from. The same four ANBU who had been in the hospital with him last night immediately left their concealment and took up flanking positions on either side of the Hokage. In less than five seconds the four of them landed directly behind Jagaa and Naruto at the same time another shout came from the crowd, this one sounding victorious. "I got him!"_

_The old man looked at the pair of blondes and saw Naruto lying on the ground with blood coming from his forehead, and Jagaa looking back at him with an unreadable expression on his face. The Hokage was about to order his ANBU to put a stop to the crowd, when he felt his chest tighten and his heart start pounding as a killing aura that he had only felt anything like once before in his life washed over him. That being when the Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked the village eight years ago. But unlike the Kyuubi, this aura was not laced with pure evil, only pure rage and bloodlust. Gasping for air, the old man looked up and was instantly able to determine the source of the incredible killing intent._

_The very air around Jagaa seemed to have darkened, and was shimmering as if heat waves were pouring off his body. His posture was no longer that of a young boy, but that of a vicious predator ready for attack, and it was obvious who his intended prey was as he stared straight into the large mob, all of whom were on their hands and knees clutching their chests in pain and terror._

"_Stop him! He's about to kill everyone in that mob!" Sarutobi yelled to his ANBU. Even as he yelled he saw Jagaa charge, his sword already targeting the nearest villager. It was stopped mere inches away from the man's face by the short blade of the ANBU in the eagle mask. Without pausing Jagaa pushed off the ground and aimed a kick at the ANBU's face forcing the man to block with his arm. Using the block as leverage Jagaa pushed away from the eagle ANBU and aimed his attack at a different villager. This attack was stopped by the cat masked ANBU woman as she used her own short sword to protect the villager. Using his momentum from still being in the air, Jagaa leaned forward and put his left hand on the dull edge of his blade while turning sideways in the air to do an aerial cartwheel and kicked off the woman's shoulder to jump higher and deeper into the crowd. This time there were too many villagers in the way for any of the ANBU or even the Hokage to be able to get in and stop the attack in time. Everything seemed to become slow motion as they saw the blade going straight toward the back of the neck of the doomed villager, while they could do nothing to save the man's life._

"_STOP!"_

_In that instant for all observers, time froze. Jagaa's blade stopped on the back of the mans neck so close that it had broken the skin, causing a small trail of blood to run, but continued no farther. The devastating bloodlust that filled the air slowly receded until it was almost non-existent. His blade still where it had stopped, Jagaa slowly turned his head to look into the sapphire blue eyes of the one who stopped him. "Why? These people attacked you. They were most likely going to kill you. Why should I not do to them exactly what they were trying to do to you?"_

"_I…I know, but that doesn't make it right for you to kill them, and I don't want to see anyone get killed because of me." Naruto looked straight at Jagaa, tears trailing freely down his whiskered face. "Please, don't kill them."_

_For a moment, Jagaa made no movement. He simply looked at Naruto (his expression replace with an) with an unreadable expression. Then, finally, he slowly took his sword away from the man's neck and just as slowly re-sheathed it. After it was firmly set in its casing, the black clad boy started walking back to where Naruto sat. When he got there, he kneeled down in front of the younger blonde and looked him strait in the eye. "All right, you win."_

_With a relieved smile, Naruto promptly passed out, his body and mind having had too many shocks for the day. Without a word, Jagaa carefully picked Naruto up and put him on his back._

_It was as they were talking that Sarutobi noticed something. As the killing aura had died away, many of the villagers had started getting up and either running as fast as they could or staring at Jagaa and Naruto in utter terror. But that wasn't what had caught the old man's attention, it was the fact that a great deal of the downed villagers were not getting up at all, and many of the ones who weren't had blood coming out of their mouths._

'They're dead!_' The old man realized in shock. '_His killing intent was so powerful that peoples hearts actually burst from the terror induced state it put them in._' Sarutobi looked back to Jagaa as they boy put Naruto on his back. '_Who the hell is this boy?_' Then to Jagaa he said out loud "We're going back to my office." Jagaa simply nodded before starting to move in the direction of the Hokage tower._

_X X X X X _

"_So…" Sarutobi said aloud when he, Jagaa (who was still carrying a sleeping Naruto) and the four ANBU entered the old man's office._

"_So, what?" Jagaa asked as he laid Naruto on a couch off to the side of the room._

"_Don't give me that!" Sarutobi snapped a little angrily. His nerves had been shot by the events he had witnessed less than fifteen minutes before. "How do you plan to explain yourself? Even if you didn't actually manage to use your sword on anyone, many people still died from the effect of your killing intent! What do you have to say for yourself?"_

_Jagaa turned and looked strait at the old Hokage and Sarutobi could feel the killing intent of the boy rising and falling in rapid (bursts or ) successions as the young boy fought to keep his anger in check. "I say, I don't know what kind of world you live in, but in mine anyone who attacks me with intent to harm or kill is fair game to kill before they get the chance! Not to mention, the one they were actually after was a member of your fucking village, and only eight fucking years old on top of that! So why don't you explain why the fuck you're getting on my ass about what I did and was going to do, and not on theirs!"_

_Sarutobi stared at Jagaa for a moment before falling into his chair with a defeated sigh. Even if he wanted to argue with the boy on his actions, he couldn't. Not in good conscience anyway, since the young boy was completely right in his words. The only reason he even brought up the question was because of his position, and it was his job to protect the people of the village. The only problem now was that his plan to get someone who could be there for Naruto had been destroyed by the events of tonight. The old man sighed, he just couldn't win._

"_I guess I have no choice but to accept that. Your reasoning is sound, and if one is to look at it honestly it was clearly (an act of) self defense. I guess the only thing to do now is get you out of the village. I can have my ANBU escort…" He was suddenly cut off by Jagaa's angry voice._

"_Go __fuck yourself__ old man, I'm not going anywhere! That is, unless you plan to let me take Naruto with me!" Jagaa was staring at the old man so hard that he could practically feel Jagaa's eyes on his skin._

"_What are you talking about? You can't take Naruto with you and you know that!"_

"_Then __you had__ better get used to having me around because I am not leaving Naruto alone in a place that he gets attacked on the street by mobs! You've already shown that you're useless at protecting him, so I'm sticking around to do it myself!" Jagaa paused for a moment to make sure he had the old mans full attention. "And I WILL kill anyone who tries to harm him, or I'll die trying! That fact will NOT change!"_

_Sarutobi almost leapt for joy when he heard Jagaa's words. He had been convinced that Jagaa would want to get out of the village as soon as possible after being attacked after only a day of being there. He didn't think Naruto would grow on the boy this much in such a short time. The old Hokage (though he would never, _never_, admit it) was even pleased to hear that the boy had every intention to kill anyone who attacked Naruto, because deep down he knew it would be the only way the attacks would ever stop._

_But even still he had to be sure. Making his tone as firm and intimidating as possible, Sarutobi stared straight through the sunglasses into Jagaa's eyes. "Do you understand what you're saying? What kind of responsibility you would be taking upon yourself? That boy has never had a family, never had a friend! If you stay to protect him, you are volunteering to be all that and more! Can you be the family he never had?"_

_Jagaa looked straight back at the old man, his voice low and unyielding in his reply. "Even if I didn't want to, I would have anyways. I would have done it in remembrance of someone who did everything you just said…for me. I would never be able to look that person in the face again if I were to turn my back on this boy now. So yes, I can…and (I) will."_

_If one were to look closely, they would have seen the almost invisible smile that played on the old mans face at the reply. "Well then I guess the only thing left to do is make you a legal resident of Konoha, by officially making you a part of Naruto's family." At this Sarutobi did smile. "As of today, you will legally be Naruto's brother. Is that acceptable?"_

"_Just as long as (you don't give me his clan name) I don't carry his clan name. I refuse to taint the name of such a kind soul with the blood on my hands."_

"_Understood."_

"_Hokage-sama, are you sure this is wise? I mean after that display of rage and bloodlust earlier it might not be such a good idea to…" The eagle masked ANBU started._

"_Oh yes, that reminds me." Sarutobi walked over to where Naruto lay sleeping, then after making a few hand seals gently placed his fingertips on Naruto's temples._

"_What was that about?" Jagaa asked__somewhat defensively._

"_Just a small memory jutsu to make him forget what he saw earlier. It wouldn't be good for him to have any residual fear of you if __you're g__oing to be taking care of him would it? He will not remember what happened unless something similar happens to jog his memory."_

"_Is this your way of telling me to control my temper?"_

"_Yep"_

_Jagaa let out a small sigh. "Fine, if that's what you want in exchange for letting me stay with Naruto, I'll keep __my cool." Jagaa gave a small smirk to the old man. "__At least when he's around anyway."_

"_I guess I can't ask for much more. Now on to other matters, like your age, birthday, hometown, and any other information we need for your records."_

"_Your guess is as good as mine on those questions. I can't remember a damn thing before about four years ago, so I have no idea what my age, birthday, or anything else like that might be."_

_Sarutobi was slightly shocked to hear that, but he recovered quickly. "Well, that's not to hard to deal with. For your age, I'd say you look to be at least ten years old, so we'll go with that. As for your birthday," the old mans eyes twinkled a bit, "I know the perfect date." Before he could go any farther, Naruto started to stir drawing everyone's attention. "But I guess I can tell you that later." With that said, he turned back to Naruto __who was sitting__ up on the couch and was looking around._

"_Ojii-san, where am I? What happened?"_

"_You're in my office Naruto. You fell asleep while you were having fun with Jagaa and he brought you here to rest." The old man then smiled at the young blonde. "Say Naruto, I have some great news for you, news that may make this your best birthday ever."_

"_Wait, today was his birthday? He didn't tell me that!" Jagaa spoke up._

"_Beside the point." Sarutobi said waving him off before turning back to Naruto. "Any way, as I was saying, I have great news for you. As of today, you have an older brother, Naruto."_

_Naruto's face took on a look of pure shock as he stared at the old man in front of him. "W-what did you just say, Ojii-san?"_

"_I said you have an older brother now, Naruto." Sarutobi answered and waved his hand in Jagaa's direction. "Jagaa has asked to legally become your older brother. What do you think of that?"_

_Naruto's head turned and stared __straight at__ Jagaa, the look of pure shock still clearly evident on his face. After a few moments, Jagaa started to shift uncomfortably as he started to wonder if Naruto was not all that thrilled with the thought of him being his older brother. His worries were laid to rest a second later as Naruto leapt from the couch and nearly tackled Jagaa (who braced just in time) with a bone crushing hug. So fierce was the hug that Jagaa started to fear for his spine._

"_NII-SAN!" Naruto yelled out in joy, somehow managing to hug Jagaa even tighter._

_And with that simple yell, Jagaa knew that he made the right choice. And for the first time since Tsuki died…he was happy._

/// Flashback End///

"You know, I had been wondering for a while now why I didn't remember what happened that day until I saw you on the bridge." Naruto said to Jagaa.

"Well I still tend to wonder why the old man let me stay at all. Especially after I killed Konoha citizens, albeit indirectly, and also made it perfectly clear that I intended to do so again." Jagaa replied.

"Maybe Ojii-san was secretly happy that you were willing to kill to protect me."

"I doubt that, he is the Hokage after all. He's supposed to protect the citizens."

"Well, what does it matter? In the end you got to stay, and that's all that matters." Naruto said in a tone of finality.

"So what happened after that?" Ino pressed, eager to find out more.

"Not much really. We went through all the legal stuff that needed to be done, and then the old man said he was going to put in me in the academy with Naruto." Jagaa answered.

Naruto let out a small chuckle at his side. "Actually, Ojii-san was going to put Nii-san in with the class of his age group at first. But when he asked Nii-san if he wanted to be a shinobi of Konoha, Nii-san asked Ojii-san, "What the hell is a Shinobi?" so Ojii-san decided it might be a better idea to just put him in the first years with me."

"WHAT?!" Sasuke suddenly cried out. "You mean to tell me you were kicking my ass around the training field and you didn't even know what a shinobi _was_. That's just bullshit I tell you."

Ino started giggling slightly at the outburst. "I remember that day. The first day Jagaa came to class, we had sparring matches to see how good our taijutsu was for first years. Originally you and Jagaa weren't even supposed to have a match, but after you saw Jagaa completely dominate his fight you decided to challenge him to a match."

"Yep, and then the entire class got to watch you eat dirt about twenty times as Nii-san acted as if he wasn't even trying. I hadn't laughed so hard in my life, especially when he followed it up by being better than you with shuriken on that same day." Naruto said with a nostalgic look in his eye. "That was truly a great day."

"Shut up, dobe!"

"Make me, teme!"

"Would the two of you please refrain from bickering?" Kakashi said in a bored tone. "I must say though, I'm surprised you ever became friends with an introduction like that."

"We didn't, at least not at first. That came a few months later." Sasuke admitted.

"So you gonna tell us or what?" Zabuza suddenly said irritably, earning him stares from everyone else in the camp. "What? I just want to hear the rest of the story. So sue me."

Sasuke looked over to Jagaa who just shrugged, "This ones all yours."

Sasuke nodded and turned back to the rest of the group. "Have you ever wondered if there was somebody that you knew, but didn't _know_? I hadn't, and I never would have if it weren't for that day. The day that I finally, truly met both Jagaa…and Naruto."

///Flashback///

_Sasuke sat alone on the edge of the small wooden pier at the lake as he stared over the water, his mind frustrated. Eight months had passed since the day of his clans' massacre at the hands of his older brother, Itachi. Eight months since he had vowed to become strong enough to kill that same man by his own hand. But it had been four months since that new boy, Jagaa, had come into the picture and shown Sasuke just how far away from his goal he still was._

_Every match. Every single sparring match they had fought since his arrival would always end in Sasuke's complete and utter__defeat. He simply couldn't touch the black clad, sunglass wearing boy. The __worst part__was the Jagaa didn't even use genjutsu and hardly ever ninjutsu when they would fight, winning easily on taijutsu alone. Sasuke was all to aware that it was only his skills in the first two areas that kept him as the number one in his class, a fact that only served to fuel his anger more._

_So caught up in his raging thoughts that Sasuke never noticed the approaching figure until it was standing directly behind him. Furious at himself for letting someone get so close without him noticing, Sasuke tried his best to keep his calm exterior in place. "What do you want?" He asked the unknown person._

_Whoever it was didn't answer, but the sound of footsteps told Sasuke that the person was moving around to his side. As Sasuke continued to stare strait ahead he caught what appeared to be nothing more than a shadow sit next to him. Knowing that could only mean one thing, Sasuke turned his head to __look straight__ at the person who was the reason for his current angry thoughts. "What are you doing here, Jagaa?"_

_Jagaa didn't answer right away, only stared at the gently rippling water as it moved in the slight breeze. Finally just as Sasuke's patience was about to snap Jagaa spoke. "It's really quite beautiful, don't you think?"_

_Sasuke was almost dumbfounded by Jagaa's question. The boy spoke almost as little as Sasuke himself in class, well at least to anyone besides Naruto, but here he was commenting about a lake as if he and Sasuke had been friends for ages. Biting back his frustration Sasuke answered as coldly as he could. "I really couldn't care less."_

_Neither boy spoke again for several minutes after that. Finally, Jagaa once again broke the silence. "Have you ever talked about it?"_

"_What?"_

"_What happened to your family. Have you ever talked about it?"_

_Sasuke felt rage start to build inside him but quickly stamped it down knowing that even if he wanted to attack, Jagaa's posture was showing that despite his relaxed appearance he was fully ready to fight at any time. And even though Sasuke loathed to admit it, he somehow knew that his chances of winning were even less without the rules of the sparring ring. "What does it matter to you?" He grated._

"_I've heard that talking about a great tragedy makes it easier to put behind you. I was just wondering if you had ever tried it."_

"_Well it's none of your damn business!" Sasuke practically yelled._

"_I suppose." Jagaa said perfectly calmly._

_Once again they both fell into silence. Sasuke wanted to leave, just get up and walk away, but for some reason he felt it would be a sign of weakness. So he stayed._

"_Do you really think it will accomplish anything?" Jagaa said as he looked over at Sasuke. "Revenge, that is."_

_Sasuke lost all sense of trying to keep his emotions in check at those words, his voice rising drastically in his reply__ "Of course it will accomplish something! I will have avenged my clan, my parents! I will have killed the man that took their lives away from them!"_

"_And what happens then?" Jagaa's voice never changed from his calm tone. "Will they suddenly come back to life? Will they thank you for avenging them? Your clan is already dead. How will you dedicating your life to avenging a dead person help them, or you, in any way?" Jagaa continued to stare at Sasuke, the calm certainty in his voice cutting through the raven haired boy's soul__ "And what will you do to accomplish this goal? Will you cut your ties with humanity? Live only for power to kill he whom you hate? The path of an avenger is truly a lonely one, Sasuke. And as you walk it, you run the risk of becoming something even worse than that which you hunt."_

"_SHUT UP!" Sasuke yelled covering his ears. Jagaa watched the young Uchiha with a small amount of contempt showing on his features, and when he next spoke, his voice was cold._

"_You're pathetic__, Sasuke. You are treated like a prince since you are the last Uchiha, yet you act cold and hostile to anyone who so much as talks to you. You claim that the loneliness is the worst part of all that has happened to you, and yet you push everyone around you away. Forcing yourself to stay in that loneliness." Even through the sunglasses Sasuke could feel Jagaa's eyes boring into his own. "In the end, you are nothing more than a spoiled child who will never be able to obtain the strength he wants because he thinks it should simply be given to him, just like everything else in his life. Your family must be so proud to see what you've become."_

"_SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! What would you know about it, huh? What would you know about the pain of losing everyone you had ever cared about! Tell me damn it! WHAT THE HELL WOULD YOU KNOW?!" By now Sasuke had tears falling down his pale cheeks as he clenched his eyes shut in pain._

_Jagaa turned his face to look back over the wind blown lake. "Indeed, what do I know?" Without another word Jagaa stood up and started walking back to the shore. Sasuke did not open his eyes, he just continued to cry._

"_You know, Sasuke." Jagaa said, stopping as he reached the grass. "If you ever want to meet someone who has had a much harder life than you, you should go to the old training ground behind the academy that no one ever uses anymore. Maybe if you actually get to know him you will understand why he is so much stronger than either of us." Jagaa turned back one more time to look at Sasuke. "That person also has a question that, unfortunately, I don't have the ability to answer for him. I was hoping you would answer it for him since you do. Who knows__? You__ may even learn something about yourself by answering it."_

_And with that Jagaa walked down the path leaving Sasuke standing alone on the little pier, tears still staining his pale cheeks._

_X X X X X_

_It was about an hour later that Sasuke would find himself walking in the direction of the academy. He didn't know why he was doing it, just that he was. Maybe it was curiosity. That was it. Sasuke was simply __curious__ to see who Jagaa had been talking about, and to see if that person was really as strong as Jagaa had made him sound, even if he didn't believe the 'harder life' part. After all, who could have possibly suffered more than Sasuke himself?_

_Forcing his thoughts back to his surroundings, Sasuke continued to walk to the unused training grounds behind the academy. As he got closer, he couldn't help but feel that his being told to go there may just be some kind of trick Jagaa was playing on him. Firmly deciding that he wasn't going to be used for anyone's amusement he was about to turn around and leave when (a noise off to the side behind the trees caught his attention)a noise off to his side came from behind the trees catching his attention. Figuring that he might as well check it out since he was here anyways, Sasuke carefully made his way to the tree line._

_When Sasuke finally made his way through the trees to the source of the noise he was more than a little surprised to find him self looking at the back of none other than the orange jumpsuit clad figure of Naruto. More surprising was that it looked like he had been training pretty hard for a while now, if the heavy breathing along with sweat and dirt covered cloths were any __indication.__ Not wanting to give away that he was there, Sasuke backed behind the tree he was standing by and waited for Naruto to start up again._

_He didn't have to wait long since at that moment Naruto ran at the training log planted in the ground, jumping up at the last moment to do a move Sasuke recognized. Or should he say, Naruto fell on his ass trying to do a move that Sasuke recognized what it was supposed to be because it was one Jagaa had used on _him_ in there sparing match yesterday._

_Jagaa had run in extremely close to Sasuke and leapt up, throwing his left knee at Sasuke's face. Sasuke had dodged back from the knee and was about to counter attack when Jagaa did a sharp spin in the air, tucking his right leg in close to his body, and then did a vicious side kick with that same leg while still in the air straight into Sasuke's undefended chest. Sasuke had been launched at least twenty feet back by the assault and immediately started coughing blood before he was quickly attended to by the medic nin that was always on standby during sparing days._

_Sasuke shuddered a bit in remembrance of the force of the blow before turning his attention back to Naruto. This time when Naruto tried the move he ended up hitting his knee on the log as he tried to spin, promptly knocking him on his ass once again. Sasuke found he could sympathize with the amount of swearing that ensued afterwards. He too had tried __to imitate__ the technique after having been hit with it, __and had found__ it was much more difficult than it appeared. It was hard to get your knee in close enough not to strike the opponent before completing the spin to attack, and even harder to get the speed needed in the spin from a dead standstill in the __air in order__ to do any real damage with the kick. Sasuke had tried for to do it for about half an hour before he finally gave up, deciding to try again at a later date._

_Sasuke continued to watch Naruto while leaning casually against the tree, certain the blonde dobe would take notice of him any minute now. He didn't realize how much time he had stood there until he noticed the sky was starting to take on an orange hue signaling the setting of the sun. This shocked the young Uchiha for two obvious reasons. The first being that he had not realized how much time had passed since he got there, and the second being that Naruto had not stopped trying to do the move even once the entire time. This also managed to raise two questions in Sasuke's mind. How was he able to go that long and not give up or succumb to exhaustion, and more importantly, why was he trying so hard to do it. Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, Sasuke moved towards the boy while purposely stepping on a stick to mark his approach._

_Naruto quickly turned around and to see who was there. As soon as he saw it was Sasuke, a look of wary distrust and curiosity came over his features. "What are you doing here, teme?"_

_Sasuke ignored the question and asked his own. "Why were you trying so hard to do that move?"_

_Naruto looked a bit surprised by the question but recovered quickly. "What's it matter to you?"_

"_Would you just answer the question so I can leave already? I've wasted enough time here as it is."_

_Naruto looked at Sasuke for a moment wondering why he was so curious, and what he meant by the time he had already wasted, and then he just shrugged. "I want to get stronger. That's all."_

"_For your dream of becoming the Hokage?" Even Sasuke knew of the Naruto's ambitions, though he wasn't quite sure why he was so interested._

"_That's part of it. I will become the Hokage one day, and then everyone will have to acknowledge my existence. But that's only part of it, now." Sasuke noticed that Naruto's voice lowered at the end. "What do you mean? What's the other part?"_

_Naruto looked Sasuke in the eye, and for a moment, Sasuke could see an intensity that he would never have associated with __the normally hyperactive blonde. "I want to be strong enough to protect those that are precious to me, like Nii-san. I want to be__ able to help him, and protect him the way he has been protecting me since he came. So that neither of us will have to be alone again."_

_Sasuke was taken aback by the conviction in Naruto's words. So much that he almost missed what Naruto had said in the end. '_So that _neither_ of them will be alone again?_" Did Jagaa also know the pain of being alone? He was just about to ask what he __meant when he__ was cut off._

"_Sasuke, what's it like to have a family?"_

_Sasuke, once again found him self dumbfounded. What the hell would bring on that question? "What are you talking about?"_

"_I was just wondering, what it's like to have a family. I tried to ask Nii-san, but he said he didn't know since he had never had one before either." Naruto's eyes grew almost longing as he looked at Sasuke. "I was just hoping that you might be able to tell me what it was like to have a real family with parents and cousins and everything else."_

_Sasuke wanted to say no, to blow the blond off just as he had so many times before, but for some reason, __he found that he just__ couldn't do it. The question was just so honest and pleading that he just couldn't bring himself to do it. "I…guess…I could try."_

"_Yatta" Naruto yelled out before plopping down on the ground to sit Indian style and looking and Sasuke like a five year old waiting for his bed time story. The actions of the other boy made Sasuke want to laugh and groan at the same time, but instead he just settled for a sigh and started to tell Naruto about his life with his family._

_It was strange, but the more Sasuke talked, the more he seemed to remember. Both the happier times, and the sad times he had spent with his family started to come back to the front of his mind after having been hidden deep within his memories. He remembered how hard it had been to try to live up to his father's expectations, while at the same time remembering how happy it would make him feel whenever he got some small form of praise from him. He remembered his mother's soft smile __and her gentle__ eyes as she would laugh and tell him that even if he didn't show it, his father was always proud of him. And even as much as he hated it, he couldn't help but remember some of the happier moments he had shared with Itachi, before that hellish night._

_After he had told Naruto all he could while leaving out the details of what had happened to his clan, he looked back down at the blonde boy who was looking up at him with a sort of forlorn expression. "It must be nice, to have memories like that."_

_Sasuke didn't know what to say to that, so for a while he didn't say anything. After a few minutes of silence he decided that there was something he to wanted to know. "Now Naruto, I told how my life was with my family, so I think its only fair that you tell me what your life has been like."_

_Naruto got a rather apprehensive look on his face before he said anything. "Are you sure you want to know. My life was quite a bit, different, from other orphans. You might prefer asking one of them about their lives."_

"_I don't want to know about their lives." Sasuke__snapped__ irritably. "I told you about my life, so I want to know about yours. It's only fair after all."_

_Naruto looked at the ground for a moment before sighing in defeat. "Fine, I'll give you the abbreviated version!" Naruto brought his face back up to look at Sasuke. "I was treated like shit in the orphanage! They wouldn't feed me or give me a bed to sleep on or a blanket to keep me war!. Most of the time they would kick me out and tell me not to come back and I would live on the street for weeks on end until the old man would find me and take me back! Finally I was allowed to get my own apartment after about the sixth time it happened! I would have to go without eating for several days at a time because none of the stores would let me buy food! It wasn't until I met the old man who runs the ramen stand that I was able to have a constant food source!" Sasuke was starting to feel extremely uncomfortable as Naruto's eyes bore into his own _

"_I have been attacked and beaten more times than I can count, and I have no idea why! Parents tell their children to stay away from me, that I am some kind of monster! So I have never had any friends and usually get picked on! In fact, the only people who would talk to me before Nii-san came were Iruka-sensei and the old man!" Naruto took a few calming breaths before continuing in a more subdued, and yet grateful voice. "That's why I am so grateful that Nii-san came into my life. The last four months have been the happiest I have ever been in my entire life." Naruto seemed to finally be finished and turned his head to look in the direction of the setting sun._

_Sasuke was not feeling all that great at the moment and was really starting to wish he had listened to Naruto about asking someone else. The worst part, Sasuke realized all too clearly, was that Naruto had said that __this was only the__ abbreviated version of it. It made Sasuke shudder to think of what the finer details might entail._

"_Why, Naruto. Why can you still smile and laugh all the time. Why don't you hate the villagers for everything that they have done to you? Why don't you want revenge on them for ruining your life?" Sasuke asked as he looked at the ground._

"_Would it change anything if I did?" Naruto asked, making Sasuke's head snap back up. "Would it somehow change the past and erase everything I went through? Instead of hating them, I want to show them all that they were wrong. That I'm not just some loser or taint on humanity. I will get stronger, I will become Hokage, and I will live my life as happily as I can while doing it." Naruto lifted his head higher to look at one of the first stars to shine as the night approached. "I guess in a way, that _is_ my revenge. To show them that no matter what they do to me, no matter how many times they try to hurt or shun me, I will continue to live and be happy."_

_Sasuke could only stare at Naruto in silent awe as the blondes words sank into his very soul. Revenge on those that hurt you by living happily. Even as Sasuke watched him, he felt an enormous amount of respect growing inside of him for the blonde before him. '_Jagaa was right. Naruto is far stronger than I will ever be._' Sasuke knew that he would never be able to forgive or forget what his brother did, but maybe, just maybe, he to could learn to live life happily again._

"_Say, Naruto." Sasuke said getting the other boys attention. "Do you think, maybe, we could hang out sometime?" If the look on Naruto's face was surprised, it was nothing compared to what Sasuke was feeling as he finished his question, but it was too late to take it back now and if he was honest, he knew it was something he needed to do._

_Naruto continued to stare at Sasuke for a while longer before shaking his head to clear his thoughts. When he looked back at Sasuke, a mischievous smile came to his face. "That depends, how much do you know about pranking?"_

_Sasuke looked back at Naruto slightly confused. "Not much, I've never done it before. Why?"_

"_Weeellll, there is this prank I've been wanting to do for a while now, but I wouldn't be able to cover as much distance as I wanted to by myself. And since it is now night time, it would be the perfect time to do it. Are you interested?" Naruto said while smirking evilly._

_Sasuke couldn't help the matching smirk from coming to his face. For some reason, he was getting excited at the prospect of pulling a large scale prank. "I'm in." With a triumphant smile, Naruto produced a couple of vials he had been keeping on him just in case the opportunity for said prank ever arrived and began going through his plan with Sasuke. After about ten minutes both boys took off in different directions._

_The next morning, screams could be heard throughout the entire village of Konoha, as people got out of their morning showers to find themselves with cotton candy blue colored hair._

///Flashback End///

Sasuke and Naruto were both laughing heavily as they remembered the results of their first prank together. Around the fire the most of the rest of the group were laughing as well at the thought of nearly an entire village full of bright blue haired people. The laughing stopped quickly and looked at Jagaa when a powerful killing intent suddenly filled the air around them. Jagaa simply shook his head and pointed, and when everyone looked to where he was pointing they saw Ino with a dangerous dark aura surrounding her.

"That was you two." Her voice was incredibly calm and dangerously sweet. That was the biggest sign that the two boys were in very deep shit. When she looked up at them, they could swear that they saw her eyes glowing red.

Sasuke looked nervously over at Naruto, who was staring back with utter terror in his eyes. "I think it's time that we employ that technique we have honed to perfection through years of fangirl evasion."

"You mean run like hell?"

"Exactly!" And with that both boys shot from their seats and into the forest with speeds never before seen.

"GET BACK HERE!" Ino screeched as she tore into the woods after the fleeing boys. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG IT TOOK TO GET MY HAIR BACK TO ITS NATURAL COLOR! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU BOTH!"

The rest of the group could only stare in the direction the three of them had disappeared. Finally Kakashi spoke up, his eye crinkling to show he was smiling. "Well, I'm ready for bed. How about you all?"

"I one question first." Tora suddenly piped up. "Whatever happened to this orange jumpsuit you all kept saying Naruto was wearing?"

"I burned it." Jagaa said very matter of factly. "Its actually because of the wardrobe change, along with beating some of the hyper out of him, that he got a fan girl following."

"I have a question of my own." Haku spoke out next. "What did they end up making your birthday? You never actually said."

Jagaa looked back at her in slight surprise. "I would have thought that would be obvious."

"Well it isn't so spill already." Tora growled.

Jagaa smiled a bit. "It's October 10th, the same as Naruto's, since that was the day that Jagaa the avenger died, and Jagaa the brother of Naruto was born."

X X X X X

Jagaa sat staring into the campfire after everyone else had gone to bed. He couldn't help but chuckle a little as he remembered Ino literally dragging a very bruised and battered Naruto and Sasuke back into camp before throwing them into their tent. Jagaa still wondered how some of the weakest women in the world could reach levels beyond that of even a Kage when filled with righteous female fury. If ever a way could be discovered to get women to call on that power at will and focus it on their enemies, they would have an invincible fighting force at their command. The very idea of it made Jagaa shudder.

It was perhaps an hour later that Jagaa felt a presence behind him. He knew who it was though, after all he had been expecting him eventually. "I've been wondering when you were going to show up, Sasuke." Jagaa said without turning around. Sasuke didn't say anything, he simply sat down on the log next to Jagaa.

For a while they both sat there looking into the fire before Sasuke finally spoke. "Did it help?" They both knew what he was asking about.

Jagaa stared at the fire a minute longer before answering. When he did, his voice was low and slightly pained. "No, it didn't. There was no sense of satisfaction or relief, no feeling of being free. I was just as hollow and pained inside as I was before I took his life. If anything, I felt cheated. Cheated on the fact that killing him didn't bring me any of the happiness or pride that I was so sure I would feel. To be painfully honest, I have gotten more satisfaction out of killing some random street thug than I got from finally killing the man I had spent so much time hunting. That's actually the reason I went berserk and started killing everyone in sight. I wanted something, anything, to make me feel like I hadn't wasted those years I spent looking for him with only the thoughts of revenge filling my mind." When he finished both boys fell into a silent state of contemplation for a while.

"You knew, didn't you?" Sasuke said as he to continue to look into the fire. "You knew that it would feel that way. That's why you came and spoke to me on the pier. You were trying to spare me from becoming the same way you were before you met Naruto, and to spare me the pain that you are feeling now."

"Yes, I wanted to try to save you from yourself before you too had your hands stained in blood from a selfish ambition. That's why I sent you to Naruto. He was the one who changed me after all. It was my hope that he could somehow do the same for you."

"He did. By his words that day, I realized you were right. I was pathetic. Hiding behind my pain and expecting everyone to worship me because I had suffered such a terrible tragedy." Sasuke laughed dejectedly at his old self. "You know, when I think of how I was back then, I can't help but hate myself for knowing that I to had treated Naruto so cruelly."

"Really?" Jagaa said in an amused tone. "I would never have guessed with the way you two get at each others throats all the time."

Sasuke shrugged as he smiled slightly. "I guess old habits die hard." The statement caused them both to chuckle a little before falling back into silence and staring into the fire once again.

"There's one more thing I have to tell you, Sasuke." Sasuke looked over at Jagaa who was looking straight back at him. "For a long time now, I thought I had put my desire for revenge behind me. But from the moment I heard Gatoh's name at the start of the mission, all the old feelings of rage and hatred started to stir inside me as fiercely as ever. And when I finally saw him on the bridge, I killed him for the same reason I had wanted to all those years before. Because of what he took from me." Jagaa's voice was forceful as he continued.

"Someday, you will run into Itachi again, and when you do I have no doubts that you to will be filled with the same rage that you once held as well. And you will try to kill him. When that day comes do not try to kill him to avenge what you have lost. It will lead to nothing more than the same feelings I have just told you about. Instead, let your mind focus on what you have to protect by killing him. Focus on those that you will kill him to keep safe, so that he can never take from you again. Then maybe, just maybe, you will get the satisfaction that you need when you kill him. Not because you avenged the dead, but because you protected the living."

Sasuke could only stare at Jagaa for a while before turning his face back to the dancing fire. "Did I ever thank you for that day?"

"You would be thanking the wrong person if you did. If it weren't for Naruto, I would not be here today. And if it weren't for Naruto, I doubt my words would have reached you anyway."

Sasuke thought that over for a moment before smiling slightly. "I guess you're right. But he would never accept my thanks would he?"

Jagaa laughed softly "No, he wouldn't at that. But that's what makes him who he is, and I wouldn't have him any other way. Would you?"

Sasuke just shook his head in response and both of the boys went back to staring into the fire in a comfortable silence.

From his tent not far from where the two sat, the old bridge builder Tazuna was listening to the two of them talk. As he realized they had finished, he gently moved back and got into his sleeping bag. Placing his hands behind his head, he stared up at the ceiling of his tent. '_Uzumaki Naruto, it seems you have the ability to change people. I hope you don't mind, but I plan on naming my bridge after you. It is my hope that my bridge will be able to change my village for the better, the same way you have changed those around you for the better._'

X X X X X

The next day a few miles away from the gate to Konoha, the group decided it was time to go their separate ways. Zabuza, Haku, and Tora offering to escort Tazuna back to his home as an apology of sorts for trying to kill him. As the two groups said there good byes (Which for some reason involved Tora vowing to defeat Jagaa in their next fight and Jagaa grumbling about that being why you don't leave enemies alive) they all started to head down the path in opposite directions from each other.

"It's good to be home!" Naruto yelled excitedly when they walked through the large gate. "Who wants to get some ramen?" Not really ready to put up with his persistent begging if they tried to decline, the rest of the group agreed and they all started walking to Naruto's favorite ramen stand.

It didn't take long for the glares of the villagers to start making themselves well known to the group, and since both Ino and Sasuke now knew the reason why, it was taking a great deal of restraint on their part not to attack some of the more obvious ones doing it.

"Could you all hold up for a moment? I need to take care of something." Jagaa said to the rest of the group. With curious looks the rest of the team stopped to see what he needed to do.

"Thank you." He said before turning his attention to the gathered villagers. Without warning his extreme killing intent filled the air as he focused it on the now terrified people. Kakashi noticed that it wasn't nearly as potent as it was on the bridge, not to mention Jagaa only let it out for about ten seconds. But if the yellow liquid that seemed to cover the side walk as well as the wet spots on pants, combined with the sudden smell of a clogged up toilet were any indication, it had done its job.

"It seems you all have forgotten just who I am in my years of being docile. I decided it might be time to remind you all." Jagaa said with vicious smirk as those who finally recovered their wits (as well as control of their bodily functions) took off running in all directions to get as far away from the group as possible.

With a malicious laugh, Jagaa turned back to his team who were all staring at him in utter shock from his actions. "That felt great. I am so glad I can start being myself again. Now, let's go get some ramen." And with that, Jagaa started walking down the street again, whistling a happy tune as his team continued to stare at him.

**A/N:** Wow, this chapter is by far the longest yet. I guess you can call it a present since I have to go on a three week training mission so I won't be able to update for at least a month. Hopefully I will have enough down time to write a rough draft of the next chapter on paper while I'm out there, so I will be able to update quickly when I get back. Speaking of next chapter I have good news for all you romantics. The pairs are _finally_ going to start coming into play as I do my first attempt at an overall fluffy chapter. Maybe a rough draft will be beneficial after all.

Well I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and I will update as soon as I can. Reviews are nice, but I will continue to write without them because I am just that damn stubborn. But like I said, they are nice.


	11. Boys and Girls

**A/N:** Well here it is, a chapter that mainly focuses on the interaction of the pairs. I hope you all enjoy it.

Now for some shout outs. I would like to thank my new beta **Bain Darkblade** for his help. He gave me some great suggestions, as well as catching mistakes I made both grammatically and spelling wise. This chapter would have had a whole lot of them if it weren't for him. It seems that even with the all the advice that **Arkaine Deao** has given me, I still suck. I would also like to thank **MidnightRayn13** who was kind enough to give my story props in her own. Really, it means a lot to me.

And last but not least, I would like to give a thank you to every one who reviewed last chapter. Never before have I gotten so many for a single chap. So here's a shout out thanks to **Tori**, **Arkaine Deao**, **Fate's Destroyer**, **YojimboJango**, **jbjewel**, **Seferon**, **sportygurl2006**, **Dragon Noir**, **MidnightRayn13**, **Jekiam**, **narureye**, **Ero-kun**, and **mimi**. Thanks again for being so supportive.

Now without further ado, on with the chapter.

**Disclaimer:** There was this one time that I did own Naruto. But then I woke up.

**Chapter 11:** Boys and Girls

"So, let me get this straight. Whenever we aren't doing missions, or when Kakashi decides to get off his lazy ass and do it himself, you want _me_ to train you three. Am I getting this right?" Jagaa asked his three younger teammates. This was definitely not what he expected when the three of them had asked him for a favor as they all got together to wait on Kakashi for the team meeting.

"That's right." Sasuke said. It seemed he had been deemed the spokesperson for the group. "We all realize now that you are a lot stronger than any of us. So we want you to train us when Kakashi isn't." Sasuke looked Jagaa strait in the eyes as he spoke. "Don't you remember why they said we were all put on the same team? We are supposedly the only ones good enough to provide you any sort of real support on the battle field. But as it stands, we are just not good enough to keep up with you. We want to be able to fight with you, not watch you fight all the battles for us."

"Damn right!" Ino suddenly piped up. "I didn't even get to fight last time! You all just kept making me guard the annoying old drunk! I refuse to be left behind again!" The glare she was giving Jagaa was just daring him to say no.

Jagaa took a moment to look at each member of his team's face. All three of them were shining with determination and stubborn refusal to accept 'no' as an answer. Even as he let out a defeated sigh, he could not stop the small, proud smile that came to his lips.

"Fine, just don't come crying to me when you find yourself wishing you hadn't asked."

The three younger genins gave shouts of success and gave each other high fives. "So when do we start?" Naruto yelled out quickly.

"Let's discuss that after the team meeting and we know what's going on for the day. Besides it's about time for Kakashi to show up. Did you all remember to bring them?"

"Of course." was the chorused response.

A few more minutes passed before the tell tale popping noise marked Kakashi's arrival at his customary spot on top of the arch at the end of the bridge. "Yo, sorry I'm late but there was this woman shaking out her drapes and kicking up dust, so in order to make sure I wasn't sent into a terrible sneezing fit I had to back track a couple miles and take the long way around."

"No problem Kakashi, you've gotten fairly predictable. So we expected it." Jagaa said in a calm tone.

Kakashi was a little put out by the lack of reaction but tried not to show it when he spoke. "Team 7 has no missions today. Seeing as we just got back from what was reclassified into an 'A' rank mission, I figured you all could use the day off."

"Yatta!" Naruto yelled and started jumping up and down.

"Well if there's nothing else that you all need or want to know, I'll be leaving now." Kakashi was about to shunshin away when Jagaa stopped him.

"Actually, there was something we needed to tell you Kakashi." Jagaa said quickly and Naruto instantly stopped jumping.

Kakashi noticed this and figured it must be fairly important so he turned back to his team. "What is it you need to tell me?"

The four genin all looked at each other and nodded just before they each brought out an umbrella. With a quick movement all of them opened their umbrellas and crouched behind them.

Before Kakashi could even start to wonder what they were doing the arch he was on suddenly snapped and gave way beneath him. As he started to fall he saw cans of paint taped up to the poles on either side of him. As soon as he noticed them they exploded from the low powered explosive tags that had been placed inside each of them, completely covering him with both neon green and neon pink paint. His fall ended abruptly when he fell into a pile of goose down pillows that had been hidden by a low level genjutsu, that he had not paid enough attention to notice, causing an explosion of feathers to engulf him. As he lay on the now brightly colored, feather covered bridge in a state of mild shock, a piece of paper drifted down and landed on his face. Slowly, he reached up with his right hand and moved the piece of paper far enough away from his face to read what it said.

_Dear Kakashi,_

_Being predictable can be a very bad thing._

_Signed,_

_Naruto, Sasuke, Jagaa, and Ino_

Raising his head to look to where his team had been he saw four neon pink and neon green paint covered umbrellas in their place. Dropping his head back down Kakashi could only stare at the note for a while as his mind repeated the same thing over and over again like a mantra. '_It is illegal to kill your genin team. It is illegal to kill your genin team. It is illegal to kill your genin team. It is illegal to kill..._'

X X X X X

Sasuke was still laughing to himself about the great prank they had just pulled on their Jounin sensei. He still couldn't believe that it had been _Ino's_ idea of all people. It would seem that being teamed up with a group of well known pranksters had ignited the inner prankster that she carried. Sasuke couldn't help but feel that Konoha may have some interesting times ahead. As soon as the four of them had gotten a relatively safe distance from the no doubt irate Jounin, they had all set off to each enjoy their day off in their own way.

Naruto took off to find Iruka in order to get the Chuunin to treat him to some ramen before going to take care of his garden that had been neglected for the month they were on mission. Ino headed back to her family's flower shop to help her parents like she always did on her (days off might be better) mission less day's, and Jagaa left saying he had to go see the Hokage that morning and then was going to relax for a while before going to his favorite Chinese restaurant. Sasuke decided to do one of his favorite pastimes when alone which consisted of wandering through the village with no destination whatsoever and seeing where he ended up. He was even lucky enough today not to run into any fan girls. (At least not his own, Jagaa's and Naruto's kept leaving with disappointed sighs when they saw that the two weren't with Sasuke)

As he walked he couldn't stop from letting his mind go back to the evening before as his team was about to leave Ichiraku's Ramen stand. Even now, he could not hold down the happiness that he had felt that night.

///Flashback///

_Team 7 had just finished their meal and were standing outside of Ichiraku's as they waited for Kakashi to pay for dinner. Naruto still pouting slightly about having been limited to five bowls since someone else was buying._

"_Well, that's it for today." Kakashi said as he walked out of the stand. "I have to go report to the Hokage now, so I'll see you all tomorrow at nine for our team meeting. Ja ne." With a pop of smoke Kakashi disappeared._

"_See you all tomorrow. We're still on for that prank we're gonna pull on Kakashi-sensei right?" Ino said before leaving._

"_Believe it!" Naruto yelled out enthusiastically while pumping his fist in the air. Ino gave him an amused smile before walking off._

"_Well, I guess I'll see you guy's at the bridge tomorrow." Sasuke said as he turned to leave. Before he could take two steps though, he felt both his arms grabbed firmly._

"_Just where do you think you're going?" Jagaa said on his right with a hint of amusement in his voice._

"_Uh, home."_

"_Well in that case you're going the wrong way__" Naruto said from his left as the two of them spun Sasuke around. "Home is this way."_

"_This is the way to get to your home, not mine__" Sasuke growled irritably at the pair of blondes that held him._

"_That's where you're wrong." Jagaa said as they continued to drag Sasuke. "Since as of today you're going to be living with us."_

"_Nani? What the hell are you talking about."_

"_We decided that there was no way we were gonna let you keep living alone in that huge compound__" Naruto replied, "You forget, Sasuke, me and Jagaa know better than any one how it feels to be alone."_

"_But…"_

"_No 'buts'. Were already kicking ourselves for letting you live alone this long. You have no say in the matter." Jagaa said sternly, but then paused and looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well I guess you can have a say in choosing a new apartment. With the three of us were gonna need a bigger place."_

_Sasuke looked back and forth between the two blondes before finally letting his head drop in defeat. If one were to look closely though, they would have seen the pure smile of happiness that had worked its way on to his face. "You're both, bakas."_

_Naruto and Jagaa just laughed at their raven haired friend as they continued to drag him down the street._

///Flashback End///

After nearly an hour of taking random paths that Sasuke found himself on the path to a place that had become one of his favorite spots in the entire village, the old unused training area behind the academy. As he got closer he couldn't help the smile that came to his face.

Ever since that day that he and Naruto had spoken there, it had become something of a sanctuary for Sasuke. Any time he needed to calm his spirit or remind himself that he wasn't the only one with a hard life, he would come here. When Jagaa had found out about it he started calling it Sasuke's 'Anti Emo Booster Shot'. Sasuke laughed a little to him self at just how accurate the statement was.

As Sasuke finished working his way through the woods he came to a dead stop before quickly and quietly jumping behind tree to avoid being seen. In the clearing that Naruto had used to train was a girl who looked to be the same age as Sasuke. She was wearing a bulky beige hooded jacked, a pair of tight blue pants that ended about mid way down her shins, and standard blue shinobi sandals. Her hair was midnight blue, ending just above her neck, but what caught his attention the most was her pale, pupil less lavender eyes.

'_A Hyuuga?_' Sasuke thought confused as he continued to watch the girl. She was facing away from him to the same log that Naruto had been using to train with that day, with her hand touching the old wood lightly. Sasuke could see a deep longing, as well regret, sadness, and (if he was seeing it right) a sense of worthlessness reflected in her lavender gaze.

As he quietly watched her for a little longer, it finally clicked in his mind that he knew this girl. For starters, she had been in the same class as him at the academy, and on top of that he was sure he had seen her watching him, Naruto, and Jagaa at various points in time. Hinata was her name. Hyuuga Hinata. Of course, now that he saw her standing in this particular training ground, looking at that particular training log, he knew who her attention had been focused on every time he had caught her watching them. Deciding he'd had enough of spying on her, Sasuke boldly stepped out from behind the tree to announce his presence. "Your name is Hinata, right?"

With a startled squeak the Hyuuga girl moved behind the training log so fast that it made Sasuke blink several times in surprise. "U-Uchiha-san, w-what are you doing here?" She said in a timid voice with barely half her face visible from behind the log, an embarrassed blush clearly evident.

Sasuke stared at her in surprise, '_Was she always this timid?_' He would admit that he had never actually talked to the girl before, but he had also never met a shy Hyuuga before either. (joke idea; it was like meeting a skinny Akimichi it just didn't happen) He shook his head before answering. "I come here a lot when I want to relax or have something on my mind. What are _you_ doing here?"

"A-ano, I a-also come here to r-relax, I f-feel comfortable here."

"Is that because you have a crush on Naruto?"

Hinata's eyed widened in terror. "I-I-I..." The poor girl couldn't even get out a response so great was her embarrassment.

Sasuke immediately started (mentally) cursing himself for being so stupid. He was around Jagaa and Naruto so often that he tended to forget that not everyone was as blunt or outspoken as those two. Nor were most people used being asked things like that so directly. "I'm sorry!" He said a bit loudly, "I didn't mean to embarrass you like that!"

"I-i-it's o-okay." Hinata said in very small voice, her face as red as tomato.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence Sasuke spoke again. "Do you mind…if I ask you why you like him?"

Hinata started pushing her index fingers together as she continued to blush. "A-ano, t-that is uhh…"

"It's okay." Sasuke said quickly, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Both of them fell into another uncomfortable silence. After a while Sasuke thought it might be a good idea for him to go ahead and leave. He was about to excuse himself when Hinata's soft voice reached his ears.

"I-it's just that I-I think he is really amazing." Sasuke's attention was instantly on the shy girl in front of him who was still poking her fingers together. "H-he always tries his best no matter what, a-and always gets up and t-tries again no matter how m-many times he fails. N-no matter what p-people may say about him, o-or how b-badly they treat him, h-he is always c-confident and happy. E-even from b-before you or Jagaa-kun c-came into his life."

Sasuke could only stare at the shy girl in slight wonder as he listened. He had never realized that someone else had seen through to Naruto's strength, and she had done it before he, or even Jagaa ever had. A small smile played on his lips as he moved forward and put his hand on the same log she was hiding behind, his mind on his bright blonde hair best friend. "I really can't argue with you there. He is one of a kind, isn't he?"

"H-hai, he is. I-I always hope t-that one day I c-can be more l-like him." Hinata's voice dropped down to barely a whisper but Sasuke managed to hear what she said. "Maybe then father would…"

Sasuke's head snapped back to look at her. She had her head down and was obviously trying to fight back the tears that were threatening to fall. Sasuke could see it all. The shame, the self doubt, and the hopelessness in her eyes, mixed with the hope that one day she could change it all. Sasuke knew that look all too well, as he too had worn that same look all those years ago.

"It's hard, isn't it?" Hinata's eyes came up to look at the dark haired who had spoken and was staring at the log once again. "You try so hard to make them proud of you, but no matter what you do it never seems to be enough." Sasuke's eyes misted over. No longer did he see the training ground he was standing in, but instead found himself standing in his old backyard as he watched his younger self trying desperately to improve his skills. "Everything you do is compared to what others have done before you. They don't see your own strength, only the strength they expect you to have. They never praise you for your own accomplishments, they only tell you what someone else has done that was so much better." Sasuke felt a slight stinging in his eyes as he remembered all the times he had been compared to Itachi by his father. "In the end you start to feel worthless, as if no matter what you do you will never be good enough to be seen for who you are and not who they want you to be. You start to wonder if it is even worth trying or if you should just give up and accept that you will never be worthy of the love and pride you want so badly from them." He looked back at the lavender eyed girl and saw the surprise that clearly shone on her face. It was obvious that she couldn't believe that Sasuke would understand how she was feeling so accurately.

"Ano, I-I…" She tried to start but Sasuke held up a hand to stave off any denials she might try to make.

"You can't hide it from me. I know those feelings all to well. I used to feel that way almost every day as I tried to gain my fathers approval. I was always being compared to…Itachi, and never recognized for my own achievements. So I know what you're going through." He looked back at the girl, who now had her head down in shame. Sasuke started to feel a bit guilty for being the one to put her in that state and quickly thought of something to change the subject.

"Well I guess that does make it easier to understand just what you see in Naruto. Being someone who has shared the same feelings as you, it's pretty clear." Hinata's head shot back up as Sasuke continued. "Naruto is confident to a fault and doesn't even understand the words 'give up' or 'quit'. He gives everything his all and doesn't let a few failures bring him down. He also never tries to be anyone other than himself and could care less what people think of him. For people like you and me, he's everything we want to be."

Hinata could not stop herself from staring in slight awe at the young Uchiha in front of her. Never would she have thought that someone like him could understand the feelings of worthlessness that plagued her heart and mind everyday. In a way, it made her feel better, as well as a bit sad, that she wasn't the only one.

"Say, Um." Sasuke started. "You know, I'm not really good with this sort of thing. Hell, the only friends I've ever had are Naruto and Jagaa, so I'm not sure how to say this…but…uh." Sasuke took a deep breath as he tried to focus his thoughts into a coherent sentence. "I guess what I want to say is, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'd be glad to listen." There, he said it. Now why the hell was that so hard?

Hinata's face was down again, but this time Sasuke could see a decent blush forming on her face, as well as a small, grateful smile. For some reason, Sasuke got a large feeling of accomplishment from the sight.

"A-ano…arigato, Uchiha-san…I…" She started but was quickly cut off.

"Sasuke."

"N-nani?"

"Call me Sasuke. I'm already calling you Hinata after all, so it's only fair that I let you call me Sasuke." Sasuke gave her a soft smile causing Hinata to blush a little deeper.

"Ano, S-sasuke-kun, then?" She said as she looked up at him with the corner of her eye.

Sasuke laughed at her a little. "That's fine I guess." Sasuke was hit with an inspiration for an offer that, if she accepted, would allow him to get to know this girl better, as well as (hopefully) make her more feel more comfortable around him. "Say, Hinata. Would you like to get something to eat with me? We could swap a few stories about Naruto. I've always wondered what he was really like before he met his brother. What do you say?" Okay, so he was slightly fibbing about wanting to know more about Naruto, but he felt it was the best way to keep the girl from feeling to self conscious.

The shy girl looked surprised by the sudden request, but that quickly turned into an embarrassed and shy smile. "H-hai, I would like that."

Sasuke smiled and made a formal bow. "I glad to hear that. Shall we go then, my lady? I know a great place." He glanced up to see her laughing cutely at his playful antics. He would have to thank Naruto later for helping him get rid of the stick he used to carry in his ass, because back then he would never have been able to make this shy girl smile like this. As the two of them walked to a nearby restaurant that Sasuke knew of, he was surprised at just how comfortable he felt in this shy girl's presence.

X X X X X

Ino gazed fondly at the photo of team 7 as she sat behind the register of her family's flower shop. It was funny, but looking back on it after learning about Jagaa's past she realized just how dangerous her little stunt could have been, but she back then it was simply about the challenge. She had noticed Jagaa's little quirk about letting people get behind him, but at the time had though it was just that, some kind of little personality quirk that she needed to conquer. It was a good thing she had gotten both Naruto and Sasuke in on it.

The four of them had been lined up next to each other with Sasuke on the far left, followed by Ino, then Jagaa, then Naruto, with Kakashi standing behind them. As soon as Ino saw that the photographer was ready, she quickly ducked back so that she was behind Jagaa. Sasuke and Naruto, who had been waiting for this, quickly threw on arm each over Jagaa's shoulders to hold him in place. Ino then jumped on Jagaa's and wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist so she was firmly set on his back piggy back style.

The resulting picture was Ino on Jagaa's back flashing the victory sign, with both Naruto and Sasuke standing with one arm each over Jagaa's shoulders flashing the same sign. Both Ino and Naruto had huge smiles on their faces and Sasuke had a small closed-mouth smile. Sasuke's expression may have been mistaken for a smirk, if it weren't for the clear happiness and amusement in his eyes. Jagaa had a slight smile that clearly showed he was rolling his eyes behind his glasses at his team mate's actions, but did find it amusing. His left hand had also moved up to support Ino as she hung on him. Kakashi just sat behind them with his visible eye in its normal upside down 'U' to show he was smiling.

Ino reached over and picked up the picture then held in front of her, a somewhat sad smile coming to her face.

'_It was so simple then._' She thought as she lightly traced her finger over each of their faces. '_Back before the mission to wave country, before I saw Nii-san kill all those people, before I learned about his past, and before I learned about Naruto holding the Kyuubi. It was just the four of us doing crappy D rank missions and listening to Naruto whine about wanting ramen._'

Ino's tracing finger stopped on Naruto's face. '_Naruto._' Ino couldn't stop the wave of emotion that came over her as she looked at the smiling boy's face. Her mind drifted back to the night before when Naruto had revealed his secret to them all and she couldn't stop the blush that rose to on her face as she remembered the hug she had given him. They sense of comfort and happiness she felt while doing it wasn't helping matters either.

Then Ino remembered the story of how Sasuke and Naruto became friends and her blush instantly disappeared to be replaced by a sad, partially angry look, as she remembered Naruto's 'abbreviated' history of how he had been treated. In a way, she was grateful that the information about the prank they had pulled had put her into a fit of rage. Otherwise she wasn't sure how she would have reacted. Her thoughts were much the same as Sasuke's were all those years ago. If that was the abbreviated version, she didn't think she wanted to hear the full version.

'_He's said he was going to take care of his garden today, so I know he's at his apartment._' Ino mused. '_I wish I could come up with an excuse to go see him and make sure he's really okay._' Almost instantly a light bulb went off in her head. In a quick hop off the stool she was on, Ino moved over to the shelf that held the special orders that had come in. She almost shouted in triumph when she saw the packet of flower seeds Naruto had ordered from Suna sitting on the shelf. It was not unusual for her to deliver special orders to the ones who ordered them, and since the store had been completely dead all day she was sure her mother wouldn't have any reason not to let her go.

That thought stopped Ino cold. What did her parents think of Naruto? Did they see him the same way the rest of the village did? Ino wasn't sure she wanted to find out. It would crush her to find out that the parents she loved so much were no better than the rest of the ignorant villagers. Steeling herself, she decided today was not the day to confront them on it, and took the more (as Jagaa would call it) indirect approach.

"Hey mom, I'm gonna deliver a special order. Do you mind if I leave the shop for a while?" Ino yelled to her mother who was currently stocking the store room.

"Sure thing honey, just make sure you hurry back."

"Got it." Ino grabbed the package and bolted for the door before her mother thought to ask who the delivery was for.

X X X X X

'_Okay Ino, just keep it casual. You're just here to deliver his seeds, not check up on him, and definitely not because you just wanted to see him._' Ino mentally prepared herself as she stood in front of Naruto's door, the wind from the open breeze way moving through her hair. Taking a deep breath she knocked. After a few moments of silence she tried again, this time louder.

'_I know he's home, were else would he told me himself that his garden is at his apartment and it's __too__ early for him to have gone to get ramen._' Ino knocked forcefully again, this time yelling. "Naruto, are you in there?"

"Ino?" she heard Naruto's voice but it didn't sound like it was coming from inside.

"Where the hell are you?" She yelled.

"I'm on the roof. There's a set of stairs a bit further down the hall you can use to come up."

Ino turned and went to the stairs he was talking about. When she got to the top what she saw took her breath away. The roof of the apartment complex was completely covered in plants, small trees, and flowers, so much that she felt as if she had somehow been transported into the deepest part of some mystical forest. For a good while she could only stand and gape at the beauty around her.

"Over here, Ino-chan."

Naruto's voice was enough to snap Ino out of her state of stupor. Turning in the direction it had come from she started to walk only to stop quickly as her mind finally processed his last sentence. '_He called me Ino-_chan_. He usually only does it when were at the flower shop._' Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Ino kept walking to where Naruto's voice had come from. Pushing some branches out of the way, she found him leaning over a few bonsai trees with a garden hose.

Straightening up Naruto turned around to face her, and Ino found herself forcibly fighting down the appreciative blush that was threatening to rise on her face. Naruto was wearing a tight fitting white t-shirt that was slightly wet from back spray from the hose and showing his body was rather well developed for a twelve year old. He also wasn't wearing his hitai-ate so his hair fell loosely around his head and made him seem much more mature than its usual spiky appearance. Even the slight dirt smudges on his face where he had unconsciously wiped some seat away only added to the overall effect.

"Oi, Ino-chan, are you okay?" Once again Ino was snapped out of her daze by Naruto's voice and she almost blushed when she realized that she had been caught staring.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine. I guess I'm just surprised that you have such an amazing rooftop garden." Ino's eyes narrowed slightly as she realized something. "Which brings up a question, this garden is way to big not to be noticed. Even from the ground. So why is it that I didn't see a bunch of trees sticking up from your rooftop as I walked here?"

Naruto laughed a bit nervously as he scratched the back of his head in that cute way of his, "Yeah, about that. Well, you see, Nii-san got someone to cast a really powerful genjutsu on the roof so the garden would be hidden." His embarrassed expression shifted slightly, and Ino was able to see sadness in his eyes. "I think he wanted to make sure that no one tried to destroy it as a way to hurt me."

Ino couldn't even form a reply when she heard Naruto's confession. Were the villagers really so hateful that they would destroy something so beautiful just as a way to hurt Naruto? '_Then again, they are willing to attack someone as kind as Naruto without a second thought, so I really wouldn't put anything past those bastards._' Ino thought darkly. She was really starting to feel anxious about finding out if her parents had the same opinion about Naruto as the rest of those idiots, but that would have to wait. Right now she needed to change the subject.

"Those seeds you ordered came in. I came by to deliver them to you." She said in an upbeat voice as she took out the seeds.

"Really? Thanks a lot Ino-chan! I had almost forgotten I ordered them!" Naruto said excitedly as he took the seeds from her hands. "I can't wait to plant them!"

Ino smiled at the other boy's antics before she caught the fact he was still calling her Ino-_chan­_. She decided it was time to figure out why he would only call her that when they were alone.

"Hey, Naruto, there's something I've been wanting to ask you for a while now." She saw his attention shift from the packet of seeds in his hand and back to her. "Why is it that you only call me Ino-_chan_ when were alone or at the flower shop?" Naruto suddenly looked rather nervous. "And why is it that you while we were still at the academy you acted like we were practically strangers? We've talked at the flower shop for hours on end, but you would hardly say two words to me when we were in class." She saw Naruto shifting around slightly and decided to add a final touch. "And don't try to lie to me, or I'll get Nii-san to stand off to the side and listen." It seemed that the threat worked because Naruto's eyes widened just before his shoulders slumped and he hung his head down in defeat.

"You don't have to do that. I won't lie."

"Good, now start talking. Why were you always so distant with me outside of the flower shop?"

"I thought you would be happier if I didn't act like we really knew each other outside of the academy. I'm not stupid. I knew most people still thought I was just some baka that was only getting attention because of his new brother. I figured you wouldn't want people to think that you were friends with the village reject." Naruto let out a long sigh. "I was also afraid of how the villagers would treat you if they thought you were friends with me. In the flower shop it was okay. After all, you were just talking to a customer, but if they thought you were socializing with me outside of that, they may have started to mistreat you."

Ino was at a loss for words. Naruto had acted like he didn't know her in order to 'protect' her from the rejection and disdain that could follow her just for being associated with him. For some reason her heart started to beat a little more rapidly knowing that he would put her welfare over his own. Even for something like that.

"There was also the fact that you've always been so infatuated with Sasuke," Naruto continued, making Ino blink a few times. "I didn't want you to think I was trying to come between the two of you. So I made sure to keep out of it."

Now Ino was completely at a loss. Not only did Naruto try to insure she wouldn't be a target for the villagers scorn, but he also tried to protect her chances with Sasuke by steering clear of her in class. She could only stare at the sunny haired boy in front of her as he fidgeted uncomfortably while waiting for her to say something. This time, she was fully aware of what she was doing when she walked over and hugged him.

"I-Ino?" Naruto said in surprise. This was the second time in as many days that he found himself in the arms of his crush.

"You really are such a baka, you know that?" Ino said while laughing softly. She pulled back so that she could look into his eyes. "You don't have to try and protect me, Naruto. I'm a big girl, I can choose who I do or don't want around me. If the villagers don't like it they can meet the end of my fist, and I'm sure Nii-san would have no problems with kicking the crap out of anyone dumb enough to voice an objection either." She finished with an eager glint in her eyes that made Naruto a bit worried for anyone who said anything with her around. "Oh, and don't worry about Sasuke. I've found that chasing him has started to lose its appeal over the years. So you don't need to worry about getting in the way or anything like that." With a mischievous smile Ino leaned in and kissed Naruto on the cheek. "But thanks for thinking of my feelings like that." She could barely keep a triumphant smile off her face when she saw Naruto turn a deep shade of red.

"A-are you sure?" Naruto asked trying his best to hide the hopeful tone that was threatening to work its way into his voice.

"Positive." Ino said with a small laugh before pulling away from him. "I have to go now. My mom might be starting to wonder what's taking me so long. When you're finished taking care of your garden feel free to come by the shop if you have time. It's been boring as hell all day over there." With one last wave, Ino ran back the way she had come and disappeared in the trees.

Naruto could only gaped in the direction she had gone as his hand rose up to gently touch the cheek Ino had kissed. Finally he came back to his senses enough to turn back to the plants he had been watering before. Even as he picked up the hose again, he couldn't help but wonder if the rest of the plants needed water all _that_ badly.

X X X X X

Jagaa stood in the middle of a hidden training field that the Hokage had made for himself a long time ago to hide his more, violent, tendencies from Naruto and Sasuke. He had gotten out of his meeting with the Hokage not to long ago and was pleasantly surprised at how it had gone. The old man had not really come down on him to hard for his _display_ on the bridge or his intimidation of the villagers on return. If anything, he seemed sympathetic (and slightly amused about the villagers) since even he had not heard Jagaa's whole story.

Not to say Jagaa had gotten off completely. As an, encouragement, for him to get better control over his temper Jagaa now had to sit in on at least five meetings a week with boring diplomats and other such crap and keep an ear out for any one who might be lying to the Hokage for whatever reason. The very thought of the boredom Jagaa would be facing was enough to make him want to fall asleep. It could have been worse though, Jagaa knew, at least he didn't have to help with the paper work.

Jagaa had also been introduced to the head of the interrogation department, Morino Ibiki. After about an hour of questions and answers where Ibiki assured himself that Jagaa's abilities were in fact real and not some sort of hoax, he asked for Jagaa's future assistance in the interrogation of prisoners. Jagaa had been a bit reluctant at first since interrogation usually meant torture and he wasn't a huge fan of torture since it reminded him to much of what Tsuki must have gone through. In the end though, he was won over by the special duty pay he would receive and accepted the job.

Jagaa slowly slipped into a stance as he prepared to do some minor meditation. As with every time he did this, he felt a familiar pang of loss and sorrow pass through his heart as he moved through his familiar patterns. Jagaa wasn't stupid. He knew that someone had trained him at some point in those early years that he could not recall. He wasn't so arrogant as to believe that he had been born with some sort of a gift for battle.

At the same time he was also sure that no one would ever be able to tell him what sort of style he had been trained in originally. Life had taken whatever basics he had learned and turned them into his own unique and deadly style.

But even still, Jagaa wished he could recall who had trained him. He knew that without that basic style, he would never have survived that first day of his life he could recall when he was trapped in an alley by murderous villagers. More than a few times he had considered asking Ino if her family had any sort of jutsu that would allow her to unlock his hidden memories, but he would always talk himself out of the idea. For some reason as much as he wanted to remember, he was also afraid to. With his past already dark as it was. What if there was a good reason for his "loss" of memory?

Jagaa was brought out of his depressed thoughts when he noticed a barely detectable chakra signature. He frowned a little at having been found at his favorite spot, but that frown quickly turned into a slightly vicious grin as he finally recognized who it was. After all, he may have only met her once but she made quite the impression on him. Then there was the tiny fact that he knew he could use this chance encounter to have some fun.

"So you just gonna come out and say hi, Mousy, or do you plan to spy on me all day?" Jagaa said without turning around.

From the bushes behind him, a slightly ticked off Tenten emerged, trying to cover her embarrassment at having been caught spying. She had found the spot they were currently standing in a few months back when she was trying to find a place to train without her sensei and team catching her. It wasn't that she didn't like her teammates, she cared for them a great deal, it was just that a girl could only take so many shouts about "The Power of Youth" along with arrogant grunts and speeches about fate before she needed to have some time to herself.

She had thought that it was old abandoned training ground and had never expected to see anyone else there. So when she came up on Jagaa slowly moving through stances as if meditating she had been surprised and followed her first instinct to hide and observe. As she watched Tenten couldn't help but marvel at the difference in his movements compared to the time she fought him a few months ago in the back of her father's weapons shop. Back then his movements had been calm and confident but not too intimidating. Now his movements were smooth and deadly, like a predator on the prowl, and just watching made her shudder with appreciation as she felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. Not even Hyuuga Neji, her long time crush, could put out the kind of deadly grace that the boy in front of her was exhibiting.

"I thought I told you not to call me that!" She said as she walked up to Jagaa.

"Well if you didn't wear your hair like a couple of mouse ears I wouldn't have reason to now would I." Jagaa taunted.

"Are you trying to annoy me?" Tenten said in a dangerously.

"Yes."

"Why?"

That was exactly the opportunity that Jagaa had been waiting for. "Because, you're just so cute when you're angry."

Now as all men know, telling a woman she is cute when she is angry is right up there with saying, 'That dress makes you look fat'. This was proven to be just as true with the bun haired brunette as an icy chill quickly filled the air.

Tenten attacked.

With lightning quickness Tenten hurled five kunai at Jagaa who, while laughing, knocked them out of the air with shuriken. Following behind her kunai Tenten pulled a scroll from a pouch and, after biting her thumb, smeared some blood on the paper as it opened to summon a long wooden bo staff. Without pausing Tenten spun the staff around her and made a swipe for Jagaa's head. She almost gasped in surprise when he casually raised his arm and blocked the blow with his forearm. Jumping back for another attack she made as if she were trying to jab the pole into his stomach but quickly changed it into a downward chop aimed for in between his neck and his shoulder. This time Jagaa simply caught the pole in his hand and held it firmly. Tenten tried to pull away but found that Jagaa's grip was to strong.

"Blunt weapons like this aren't all that effective on me since I don't really mind pain that much." Jagaa said to the brunette. "If you're going to use a weapon against me, your best bet is to use one with a blade. At least then I have to dodge." Jagaa let go of the staff as Tenten tried to pull it from his grasp again while at the same time striking the wooden pole upwards and causing Tenten to over raise her arms higher than she intended. Jagaa took that opportunity to move in and swiftly strike her in the stomach with an open palm making her fly backwards several feet.

Tenten regained her footing without falling even as she gasped from having the wind knocked out of her. As she regained her breath she eyed Jagaa intently as she planned her next attack. Reaching behind her she pulled out six more kunai before charging again and throwing them one at a time in rapid sequence. Jagaa dodged each individual blade just barely as he watched the girl carefully. He didn't want to be caught off guard in case she brought out any sort of weapon that he would only be able to counter with his own.

By the time Tenten was down to only one kunai she was less than four feet away. It was then that Jagaa did end up being caught by surprise when she did the last thing Jagaa would have expected from a weapons specialist.

She tackled him.

So great was he surprised that Jagaa didn't have time to brace himself and was easily knocked off his feet and straight on to his back. He was pulled out of his surprised state when he felt the touch of cold steel against his neck and found himself looking straight into a pair of deep brown eyes that were shining in triumph.

"I win!" She declared proudly.

Jagaa took a moment to get an understanding of the situation he was currently in. As soon as he did, he felt a smile come to his own face as he prepared his counter attack. "Oh, I don't know. The longer we stay like this, the more I start to feel like I'm the real winner overall."

It was then that Tenten realized she was straddling the boy's waist as she sat on top of him with the kunai to his throat. In all truth it was a real technique called the mount that she had him in, but that didn't make it any less awkward when she realized just how close their groins were to each other. Tenten felt a blush rising on her cheeks and in embarrassment moved the kunai away from his neck just slightly.

That was all Jagaa needed as he quickly grabbed her wrist and bucked his hips to so he could roll back wards. As she started to go into the air Tenten instinctively wrapped her legs around Jagaa's waist. When Jagaa finished rolling he was on his hands and knees with Tenten on her back underneath him with her legs still wrapped around his waist in a move called the guard. Jagaa used her surprise to get the kunai out of her hand and pin her arms to the ground by putting his weight on his hands.

Unfortunately for Tenten, Jagaa wasn't done playing with her yet and leaned close to her ear and whispered to her seductively. "Then again, being on top isn't so bad either." Jagaa pulled back to see Tenten's face completely aflame as she stared at him in utter shock. Jagaa decided then that it would be a good idea for him to stop teasing her, not only for her sake, but for his as well. After all, if he wasn't careful he could rather easily get this young girl to be more than willing to let him have his way with her. He had been seducing women for his own gains since he was freaking _seven_ years old after all. That first woman had taught him well.

Laughing as he stood up, Jagaa offered a hand to Tenten who still lay on the ground. After a few moments of indecision she took his hand so he could help her up.

"Well that was fun, but I'm hungry." Jagaa said while stretching before turning back to Tenten. "Want to go get something to eat with me? I'll pay."

Tenten looked at him with suspicion clearly written on her face. "Why?"

Jagaa scratched the back of his head in a very Narutoish way. "Well, we could call your reward for winning. In all honesty you did win. Well, as far as a spar goes. Any way, you could also call it an apology for embarrassing you like that, even if it was extremely fun to do."

Tenten glared at Jagaa for a full minute before shrugging. "Well as long as you're paying."

X X X X X

Tenten felt her eye twitching as she looked at the name of the restaurant Jagaa had led her to. "Chen's Chinese" shone out in red letters with the Chinese characters for the same meaning directly underneath it.

'_Is this some kind of joke he's trying to play! I swear if he brought me here to make fun of my hair and clothing style I'll kick his ass from here to Sunagakure!_' Tenten continued down that line of thought as Jagaa calmly walked through the front door with her in tow. Her thoughts of it being some kind of joke were dispelled as soon as they were inside.

"Jagaa-san, it's good to see you again. You even have a guest with you this time." The greeter said as soon as he saw Jagaa.

"Hey, Ling. I don't suppose my usual spot is open?" Jagaa asked the man behind the desk.

"Of course it's open. The owner insures that it always is, just in case." Ling said as he led them down the aisle and to a table that was practically hidden away near the back of the restaurant. "Since you have company today here are a couple menus. I'll be back to take your order." Ling bowed slightly before leaving.

"Seems they know you pretty well here." Tenten stated as she watched Jagaa remove his sword from his back and lean it against the wall next to his chair.

"It's my favorite place to eat in the entire village." Jagaa said casually. "You ever been here before?"

"If you're trying to indirectly make fun of me over my choice of hair and clothing style I swear…" Tenten was cut off by Jagaa's laughing.

"So is that why so seemed so pissed off when we got here? I was wondering about that." Jagaa said through his laughter. "You really need to get over yourself, not everything I do is some kind of attack against you."

Tenten felt her face heat up from both anger and embarrassment at Jagaa's words. She really wanted to lash out at him but she couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't sound completely stupid after her initial outburst. Fortunately she was saved from trying to by a loud squeal from a new arrival.

"Jagaa-kun, you're back!" A girl with black hair tied in an elegant bun on the back of her head, forest green eyes, and wearing a red Chinese dress yelled as she seemed to materialize out of thin air and wrapped her arms around Jagaa's neck.

Now Tenten wasn't a Kunoichi for nothing so her observation skills were rather good, so she was more than a little surprised when she realized she hadn't even seen him move before Jagaa had his sword in hand and half drawn before he figured out who it was that had latched on to him. "I thought I asked you not to do that, Lyn." He said calmly as he put his sword back against the wall.

Tenten was a bit surprised at Jagaa's quick, and possibly lethal, reaction to being hugged like that. Of course, Neji would possible do the same seeing as he absolutely hated physical contact. What surprised her more though was the fact that the girl that had just appeared had to be at least be in her late teens, and was rather shamelessly rubbing her hands over Jagaa's chest.

"That was before you decided to disappear for a month. Do you have any idea how lonely I was while you were away?" Lyn whispered seductively into Jagaa's ear, but just loud enough for Tenten to hear it.

Tenten blushed deeply at the way the other girls was acting and started shifting uncomfortably. The shifting seemed to draw Lyn's attention, who was now looking at Tenten as if she hadn't even noticed her presence before.

"Who's this now? Jagaa did you manage to get yourself a girlfriend?" Lyn's eyes grew a bit sad as she looked to Jagaa for confirmation.

Jagaa sighed a bit at Lyn. "No, she's not my girlfriend. I just brought her here because we met at the training field and had a short spar."

Lyn instantly brightened. "So you mean we can still…? Jagaa nodded and Lyn let out a squeal of joy before hugging him tightly again. "Will you come over tonight then? Daddy isn't going to be home."

"I guess I could. I don't have anything else to do anyway." Jagaa said which earned yet another squeal along with a hug.

"Come after ten then, ok? Don't keep me waiting too long, Jagaa-kun!" Lyn finished the in a singsong voice before kissing Jagaa's cheek and walking past Ling who was finally coming back.

"Sorry it took so long, I had to seat some other customers. Though, it seems you were distracted by Lyn who was as happy to see you as ever." Ling said as he pulled out a pen and paper. "So what can I get you?"

"I'll start with the usual and go from there. I made some extra money from a mission and feel like splurging a bit." Jagaa said.

Tenten, who had been put into a state of stupor at what had just happened in front of her mentally slapped herself and quickly opened the menu. "I'll have the orange chicken with a side of egg rolls." She said after a short scan.

"And to drink?" Ling said asked as he wrote their orders down.

"Sake." Jagaa said and looked over when saw Tenten staring at him. "What?"

Tenten shook her head in disbelief, "I'll take some green tea."

"All right then. Your orders should be done soon. Or at least part of it." Ling said before leaving.

Jagaa looked across the table and saw Tenten staring at him hard with narrowed eyes. "Can I help you?"

"Were you and that Lyn girl talking about what I think you were talking about?"

"Depends, what did you think we were talking about?"

Tenten shifted uncomfortably again before leaning in close so that only Jagaa would hear her. "Sex."

"Yes we were. Why?"

Tenten was completely caught off guard by the bluntness of his answer as she tried to speak. "B-but, you're only…"

"Fourteen."

"And she's…"

"Seventeen."

"Then, why…?"

Jagaa laughed at Tenten's flustered appearance. "Let's just say that I saved her from some…unwanted advances a year or so ago and because of that she was _very_ grateful, and shows just how grateful she is often." Jagaa tilted his head a little as a smile came to his lips. "_Very_ often."

Tenten finally seemed to gather her wits enough to speak coherently. "What the hell are you thinking doing that? You're only fourteen. And the fact that you said it started a year ago, you were only thirteen. That's too young to be…" Tenten was cut off once again by Jagaa laughing, this time rather hard. "What the hell is so funny?!" She demanded.

"Sorry," Jagaa said as he reached under his glasses to wipe his eyes. "But as soon as you said I was too young I just couldn't help but laugh." Jagaa said as he tried to reign in his amusement.

"And how is that funny?" Tenten glared at the now chuckling boy sitting across from her.

"Oh, if only you knew." Jagaa looked up after he managed to stop laughing. "All right, foods here."

Ling put a plate down in front of Jagaa, which turned out to be shrimp chow mein, before putting Tenten's orange chicken in front of her. "Itadakimasu." She heard Jagaa say as he started eating. Tenten slowly took a bite of her food as her mind processed Jagaa's words. '_What did he mean by 'If only you knew' he makes it sound like he's been having sex since he was ten._' (Again, if only she knew.)

Tenten looked at Jagaa as she thought, only to have those thoughts cut short by the sight of eight empty plates stacked next to him. A second later a ninth plate was stacked on that one as another full plate was put in front of Jagaa. Following the waiter with her eyes she saw him walk past five other waiters who each had a plate of shrimp chow mein in their hands and a sixth one who walked up to get in line behind his coworkers. The sound of another plate being stacked brought her attention back to Jagaa who was rapidly, yet cleanly, devouring his eleventh plate of chow mein.

Catching Tenten's shocked gaze he paused in his eating and smirked at her a bit. "What, did you think they liked me so much because of my personality?" Jagaa quickly finished his plate and stacked it as another was placed before him. "As my brother is to ramen, so am I to shrimp chow mein. We still haven't found out who could eat more of their favorite food. We usually run out of money first." Jagaa ate his twelfth plate and stacked it on top of the others. "By the way, I'm gonna go see your father after lunch so if you were gonna go home your welcome to tag along." A moment later he was on his thirteenth plate.

Tenten could only nod mutely as she watched him continue to devour plate after plate of chow mein, her own food completely forgotten.

X X X X X

Tenten was still staring in disbelief as she and Jagaa walked back into her family's weapon shop. The same thing had been running through her mind since leaving the restaurant. '_Fifty plates, he ate fifty freaking plates of chow mein before he stopped for _budget reasons_, and I'm almost positive the damn things were _family sized' With barely a nod to her father after he greeted her she walked up the stairs to her room.

Kyougu watched his daughter walk up the stairs in a daze. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know what exactly she had seen that was affecting his normally energetic girl in such a way. Shaking his head a bit, he turned back to Jagaa who was smiling in amusement. Yep, Kyougu definitely didn't want to know. "So, Jagaa, what brings you today?"

"We had a bit of trouble on our mission and my sword took a bit of a beating. Normally not an issue, but the guys who did the beating were pretty good so they may have done more damage than some thug in an alley." Jagaa said as he drew his sword and handed it to Kyougu.

Kyougu nodded and took the blade from Jagaa's grasp. As he was looking it over he remembered something. "Hey, Jagaa, I got something in the other day that you may be interested in." Kyougu smiled a bit at seeing he had the boy's attention by the slight tilting of his head. "I'll be right back."

X X X X X

Jagaa took his sword back from Kyougu after the man said that the blade wasn't damaged and he still had a while before it needed to be sharpened again. His new purchase had been safely tucked away from sight.

"If you like it, you should consider getting one for your brother." Kyougu said as Jagaa re-sheathed his sword.

"Maybe, but not until after I've pounded a few new skills into his head. That goes for the rest of my team as well," Jagaa replied.

"Man, I almost feel sorry for them. Well it was good to see you again. Be sure to come back if you need any new weapons."

"Sure thing." Jagaa said as he turned to leave. He hadn't taken two steps before he stopped and turned back around. "Do you mind if I ask you something?" Kyougu was a bit surprised at the sudden question as he nodded his permission.

"When we first met, I asked you if you knew who I was and you lied when you said you didn't right." Kyougu remembered the day very clearly, as well as Jagaa's parting words about not lying to your customers, so he nodded again. "I want to know why you were so accepting of me that day. I know it wasn't from fear, as with a great deal of the rest of the village, so why?"

Kyougu sighed after hearing the boy's question. Truth be told, he was hoping the subject would never be brought up because he was ashamed of himself. Unfortunately he had already seen that Jagaa was very insightful about people lying to him (Understatement of the year) and knew he would have to tell the truth. He just hoped the boy wouldn't hold it against him.

Steeling himself as best he could, Kyougu looked straight into Jagaa's hidden eyes knowing full well that Jagaa was looking into his. "I was there that night, the night you and Naruto were almost attacked by that mob of villagers." This time Kyougu couldn't keep eye contact as he looked down in shame. "I was one of them."

Jagaa remained silent, seemingly waiting for Kyougu to go on. With a deep breath Kyougu continued. "I always thought the same as everyone else, that Naruto was just the demon reincarnated. I hated him, and that night, I hated you for protecting him." Kyougu paused as he gripped the counter in self loathing as he remembered his old self. Taking another deep breath, this time to calm himself, he went on. "But I changed that night. I changed when Naruto stopped you from killing us all, no matter how much we deserved it. I finally realized that if he were a truly a demon, not only would he not have stopped you, he would have enjoyed seeing us all killed." Kyougu was finally able to look back into Jagaa's eyes despite the fact his own were now shiny from unshed tears. "That's why I don't think of him as a demon anymore, that's why I am grateful to him for sparing the lives of people who, in all honesty, didn't deserve to be spared, and that's why neither you nor your brother will ever be treated wrongly by me ever again."

Jagaa looked at Kyougu in surprise as he saw the sincerity shining in the man's eyes. Jagaa didn't even need his "talent" to know that Kyougu meant every word he said. Jagaa felt a good deal of respect forming for the man in front of him who had admitted so plainly that he had been wrong about Naruto. "Thank you for being able to see past Naruto's burden and to see Naruto for who he really is." Jagaa said to the man who was wiping his damp eyes. "But, that still doesn't explain why you're not afraid of _me_ at all. I have yet to meet someone who was there that night who isn't. Hell even the Hokage tends to walk lightly around me, and he could kick my ass easily."

Kyougu smiled a bit at the boy's confession, as well as the funny mental image of the village's leader tiptoeing around Jagaa. "That's because you showed that despite that insane amount of killing aura you can let off, that you aren't some kind of blood thirsty monster either." He smiled again when Jagaa tilted his head and raised his eyebrows in an obvious 'how so' motion. "Naruto may have been the one to yell 'stop', but you were the one who listened to him. You stopped when you could have easily ignored him and killed us anyway, and for that I am truly grateful to you as well."

Jagaa kept his head tilted as he thought about what Kyougu had said. After a short time he gave a small smile and nodded to Kyougu before turning around to leave, raising his hand as goodbye.

After Kyougu was sure Jagaa was gone, he let his hand move up to feel the back of his neck. "You have no idea just how grateful I am, Jagaa." He said as his fingers traced a thin scar.

X X X X X

Sasuke and Naruto were the fist to arrive for the team meeting the next day, showing up about fifteen minutes before. On their arrival, they were amazed to see that the bridge had already been fixed and repainted so that it was its usual color.

"Hey Naruto, Sasuke!" Ino yelled as she came walking up a few minutes later.

"Hey, Ino-chan!" Naruto yelled back while waving his arm energetically. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Naruto's term of address, but didn't say anything. If Naruto was finally going to start putting an effort into showing Ino that he liked her, then Sasuke sure as hell wasn't going to get in the way.

"Wow, they already fixed the bridge." Ino voiced the amazement both boys had shared earlier before looking around. "Where's Nii-san? Shouldn't he have come with you two?"

"We don't know. He never came home last night." Naruto said. "Don't worry about it though, he does that a lot."

"What do you think he does when he's gone all night?" Sasuke asked, though it was mostly to himself.

"After what we learned about him on the wave mission, I'm not sure I want to know." Naruto said.

"What's that supposed to mean, otouto?"

Naruto yelped in surprise before quickly turning around to see Jagaa walking across the bridge toward them. "Where were you all night, Nii-san?" Naruto yelled while pointing an accusing finger at Jagaa.

"Don't worry, no one died if that's what you're worried about." He said to the three younger kids before adding under his breath. "Though, if Lyn hadn't finally run out of energy _I_ may have died. Damn that girl is wild when she hasn't gotten any for a while."

"What was that?" Ino asked suspiciously, bringing Jagaa out of his thoughts.

"Just thinking about something, nothing you need to worry about, imouto." Jagaa said quickly. Ino continued to stare suspiciously at him. '_Damn, that women's intuition is a scary thing._'

"Well since we have at least a three hour wait before Kakashi shows up, why don't we start training?" Jagaa said, trying to change the subject.

That instantly got the three other genins attention. "So you're going to train us after all then?" Sasuke asked.

"I said I would, didn't I?" Jagaa said with a smirk. "Just remember, every thing I know I learned by fighting. If I was ever formally trained I don't remember it. So that's how I'm gonna train you. From now on, every day while we wait for Kakashi to show up you will be fighting me three on one. We won't stop until either one of you gets a hit on me, or Kakashi arrives. Is that okay with you three?"

"Uh, Jagaa, not that I'm complaining or anything, but do you really think we wont be able to hit you in a three on one match. I mean, I know your better than us, but come on, both me and Naruto were able to go head to head with you for a while at least when we sparred at the academy. So with the three of us…" Sasuke left it hanging there.

Jagaa's smile was more than a little amused. "You think so, huh? Well there are a few things you should remember before you get your hopes up, Sasuke. First, in the academy I was trying _very _hard to blend in as a normal student and therefore fighting in a way that is completely different from how I would normally fight. Second, I have spent most of my life fighting groups of people and am rather good at it. And last but not least, I can do this," With that Jagaa let out an intense wave of killing intent that dropped the three young genin to their knees before it disappeared a moment later. "That wasn't even close to what I can actually let off. I hope you enjoyed it, because from now on every time we spar I'm going to be letting off a steady stream of killing intent until you can fight without being affected by it at all. As you learn to shake it, I will increase it, and so on and so forth. So tell me Sasuke, are you still so sure that getting a hit on me is going to be easy?"

Sasuke didn't make a sound.

"Well," Jagaa said happily, "since there are no more questions, let the torture begin."

"Um, don't you mean training, Nii-san?" Naruto asked nervously.

"Yeah, that too."

The three young genins gulped visibly.

**A/N:** Well what did you think? I hope you liked it at least a little because it took forever to write the damn thing. Oh yeah, in case you're all wondering how I was able to get the next chapter up in two weeks when I was supposed to be gone for three. Well, I sorta kinda broke my leg the day before I was supposed to leave so I ended up not being able to go. Aint that some shit. I also had to have surgery on it, so now I have a metal plate and eight screws in my leg down by my ankle. I just hope it doesn't cause any strip searches at the airport or anything. That would really suck.

Any way, enough about me. Feel free to review, but again I will continue to write anyway even if you don't. You can also flame if you want. I could use a good laugh. I'll also be reposting previous chaps after **Bain Darkblade** goes over them for me. So if you're alerted to me posting a chapter that was already out you know why.


	12. The Exams Begin

**A/N:** Wow, I got this chap done way quicker than I thought I would. I guess my muse decided to come back from vacation for a while. I would like to once again thank my betta **Bain Darkblade**for the taking the time to go over my chapter as well as give me some very good suggestions and ideas to improve the story. Sadly I can't always manage to work some of them in to the chap but they are good. Speaking of which, **BD**. I couldn't make that joke you suggested work out quite right for this chap so I am going to save it for another chap because it was way to good not to use. Any way, enough of my rambling and on with the story.

**Disclaimer:** Once upon a time there was a person that did not own Naruto and never will. That person was me. The End.

**Chapter 12:** The Exams Begin

"**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu**" Sasuke yelled as he launched his attack.

The large fire ball headed straight at Jagaa who barely took a step back from the raging inferno. Letting it destroy the ground directly in front of him.

Naruto charged straight through the smoke left from the blast and launched his fist at Jagaa's face. Jagaa knocked the punch aside and threw his own at Naruto's head. Naruto ducked the strike and sent a flurry of punches at Jagaa's chest. Jagaa blocked all the strikes except one that he sidestepped causing Naruto to over balance and fall forward. Jagaa aimed an elbow at the back of Naruto's skull, but before he could he was forced to jump out of the way of a barrage of kunai and shuriken Ino had launched at him.

As Jagaa jumped back he blocked Sasuke's kick to his head. Jagaa's fist shot forward toward Sasuke's chest but Sasuke blocked it by crossing his arms in front of him. The force of the hit however sent Sasuke flying back about twenty feet before he managed to get his feet on the ground. Jagaa was about to rush him but had to jump back again to avoid another barrage of Kunai. This time Ino was right behind the assault and slid low trying to take out Jagaa's feet. Jagaa flipped into the air so Ino would pass under him and threw a punch to the top of her head. Ino twisted and threw her arm up deflecting the blow to just miss her as she continued her slide. When she got past him Ino jumped to her feet and did a few back hand springs before landing next to Sasuke. Jagaa didn't get to see though because as soon as he landed Naruto attacked him from behind. Jagaa moved his head to the side so the blow would pass him and grabbed Naruto's arm. Then using Naruto's momentum to his advantage he spun in a half circle and threw the younger blonde in the direction of his teammates. With a sharp spin Naruto righted himself in the air and landed in a half crouch facing Jagaa as he slid back next to his teammates.

Naruto, Ino, and Sasuke each took a quick glance at each other and nodded before the three of them charged Jagaa while at the same time weaving in front and behind each other. Jagaa didn't move, but let out a powerful wave of killing intent at them. The three faltered ever so slightly but other wise seemed unaffected and continued their charge. Jagaa smiled slightly before jumping back to avoid Ino's slash to his stomach with a kunai while at the same time grabbing Naruto's leg as it headed for his head. Jagaa quickly spun around while still holding Naruto's leg and then threw him into Sasuke who was about to throw his own kick at Jagaa's knee. The two boys crashed into each other and fell to the ground as Jagaa raised his arms and stopped Ino's axe kick to the top of his head. Once again Jagaa grabbed the offending leg and threw Ino into Sasuke and Naruto who were both just starting to stand up making the three of them fall into another pile on the ground.

Naruto was the first to recover and put his hands to together in a familiar cross shaped seal. "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**!" He yelled, creating thirty other Naruto's. With a loud battle cry the kage bunshins attacked Jagaa. Jagaa coolly drew his sword and mercilessly started slicing through the attacking clones, dispatching them with ease.

"**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu**!" Jagaa heard again but this time he was surprised to hear _two_ voices yell the attack. That surprise turned to near shock when he realized the other voice was _Ino's_. The two large fire balls roared towards Jagaa (Ino's being a good deal smaller than Sasuke's but still worrisome) and Jagaa was about to jump out of the way when Naruto and twenty Kage Bunshins started throwing Kunai and Shuriken at all his possible escape routes. Jagaa decided it was time to pull out his own surprises and flashed through some hand seals ending on the tiger. "**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu**!" He yelled and launched his own fireball to intercept the two incoming ones. The resulting explosion rocked threw all four of the genin to the ground as fire and debris flew by their heads. When the explosion finally subsided, Ino, Naruto, and Sasuke all looked at Jagaa who was already on his feet and smirking slightly.

// _Meanwhile at the Hokage tower _//

A room full of Chuunin and Jounin were crowded around the Hokage's desk watching the four of them spar through the old mans crystal ball.

"Well, Iruka. I trust you have no more objections to my entering my team into the Chuunin exam." Kakashi said as his eye showed the amused smile hidden beneath his mask.

Iruka didn't answer. He didn't trust himself to speak at the moment.

// _Back at the training area_ //

Ino, Sasuke, and Naruto were still staring at Jagaa who stood closest to the damaged ground. "Wow, I'm impressed, Ino. When did you learn how to do the 'Goukakyuu no Jutsu'?" Jagaa said in a deliberately casual tone while he mentally started the countdown. '_3…2…1…_'

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN 'WHEN DID SHE LEARN IT!?' WHEN THE HELL DID YOU LEARN IT!?" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs at his older brother.

"I asked first." Jagaa said in the same tone. He knew his casualness was absolutely infuriating Naruto. What could he say, it was an older brothers job to piss off their younger siblings now and then after all.

Sasuke spoke up to cut off any more shouts from the irritated Naruto. "She only got it down about three days ago, but she asked me to teach it to her just a bit over two weeks ago." Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he looked at Jagaa. "So now are you going to tell us just when you learned it?"

"Me?" Jagaa said in mock surprise, "Why I learned it during the wave mission. You should have seen the damage I did to the section of the forest I was training in."

"How did you learn it though? You obviously never had Sasuke show you how to do it." Ino said in bewilderment.

"I've always been a fairly visual learner, and I've seen him do the technique Kami knows how many times so I knew the seals. After that it was just a matter of trial and error." Jagaa said off handedly.

"I can't believe I'm the only one on our team that can't do the 'Goukakyuu no Jutsu', it's just not fair." Naruto said. He was currently sitting on the ground pouting.

"You can do the 'Kage Bunshin' though." Ino said consolingly hoping to cheer him up. "None of the rest of us can do that."

"Hey that's right!" Naruto said happily. His happiness quickly turned to suspicion when he saw Jagaa suddenly become rather fascinated with the leaves on a nearby tree. "Nii-san?" Naruto's voice was laced with his suspicious feeling.

"Um, Yes."

"You didn't _happen_ to learn the 'Kage Bunshin' as well, did you?"

"Uhh, insert previous explanation here." Jagaa said while sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

Naruto looked at Jagaa for a moment before bursting into tears of despair. "It's just not fair. Now not only do you all know a technique I don't. I don't even have a technique none of you can do." He cried as small waterfalls of tears fell down his cheeks.

"There, there." Sasuke said comfortingly as he patted Naruto's back. "I'd be happy to teach you the 'Goukakyuu no Jutsu' if you want."

"You mean it?" Naruto asked with a sniff and Sasuke nodded. "Thanks, Sasuke. You're a true pal."

Jagaa shook his head at Naruto's over the top dramatics. "If it makes you feel any better, Naruto. I will most likely almost never use it. I'm to fond of being in the middle of the blood bath to want to let a anyone else kill my enemies for me. Even if they are technically me." Jagaa added the last part as kind of an after thought.

The three other genin looked at him for a while before Ino finally spoke up. "Couldn't you have at least _tried _to phrase that a little better?"

"No."

All three sweat dropped.

"So, are we gonna go back to training?" Sasuke asked.

Jagaa thought for a moment as he gauged the time. "No." He said finally. "I think we can call it quits for today. Kakashi should be here in about thirty minutes or so. So there's really no point in picking it back up. Let's just go ahead and rest until he gets here." Jagaa said the last part while rubbing his shoulders as if they were stiff. He had been doing that frequently for about a month now but wouldn't say why when the asked him, only saying something about a 'trial run'.

The three younger genins nodded. It had been a month since they had started training under Jagaa, and it had not been a pretty one. The first week had consisted of Jagaa simply beating the living crap out of them for three hours as they were immobilized by his massive killing aura. Of course, because of Naruto's 'oh, so wonderful healing ability', Jagaa was extra hard on him. Naruto was convinced during that first week that his brother was really a sadist. On top of that they still had to do their missions after Kakashi got there. They had been so tired and sore that at one point they had destroyed some woman's garden because they were to tired to tell the difference between weeds and herbs, were dragged into a mine field by some dogs they were walking, and almost got swept down a river they were picking up garbage in and over a water fall. Jagaa had explained that it was to teach them to push through pain and continue fighting, but that didn't stop them from shuddering at the memory.

By the second week they were finally able to move under the killing intent and started attacking. That week Jagaa mostly blocked and occasionally dodged their attacks as he let them overcome the state of panic and fear that his killing aura usually put them in. It had taken them only five days before they were able to move freely without being affected by it.

By the third week it had finally become an all out spar with Jagaa facing the other three. It was then that Jagaa's words about being good in a group fight really rang true. He seemed to be able to watch every where at once. Blocking, dodging, attacking, it was almost impossible to find an opening on him to take advantage of. Sasuke even asked a couple times if Jagaa was really a Hyuuga in disguise, at which Jagaa would simply laugh and tell them to keep attacking. His unorthodox style was another reason it was so hard to land a hit on him. He would let attacks get closer than he needed, seeming to enjoy the challenge of until the last possible second before either blocking, dodging, or countering. His attacks were also fast and accurate, as well as unpredictable. Every time they would think they had figured out how he would react to an attack, he would completely change it. Something he blocked before, now he would dodge. When last time he used his elbow to stop that kick, this time he used his knee, or simply dodged. Instead of following up that attack with an elbow to the head followed by a punch to the gut, he swept your legs and then ax kicked you on your way down. He just never seemed to really do the same thing often enough to get any sort of predictability to his attacks or defense.

Finally by the end of the third week the three of them had improved enough that at least one of them would be able to get a shot in on him. After they had managed to get him three days in a row in under an hour Jagaa raised the standard to one hit from each of them. This meant that they had to start mixing up their tactics a bit and reworking the roles they played in the spar so that each of them could get in a hit. So far they had only been able to get two out of three hits in but were still happy to know they were improving. Jagaa had also admitted that he seriously had to focus to keep them from hitting him and that if he hadn't been keeping up with his own training outside of their spars he would have been screwed a while ago.

"So, where do you think Kakashi-sensei will appear today?" Naruto suddenly said with all traces of his earlier depression gone. Ever since the prank with the paint and feathers they had played on him, Kakashi made sure to never appear in the same place twice in a row and always took a moment to check for traps in his immediate area. He did however keep his chronic tardiness.

"I got twenty on him casually walking out of the trees" Sasuke said as he held up his money.

"All right, I say he'll appear on top of the arch since he hasn't used it in a long time." Naruto matched, holding up his own money.

"I say he's gonna pop up from under the bridge." Ino placed her bet.

"My money's on him appearing in the middle of the bridge to try to surprise us." Jagaa added his money to the pool.

"Hey, Nii-san." Naruto suddenly said as if just remembering something.

"Yah."

"When are you gonna start using your sword against us? I mean, you use it to get rid of Kage Bunshins but never to fight us."

"I'll use it more once you all are good enough to take me one on one, but not until then."

"Why is that?" Sasuke asked.

"When fighting a group of people best strategy is to reduce their numbers as quickly as possible. For me that means killing them, and that's exactly how my instincts work. When fighting all three of you, especially now that you have been pushing me to my limits, there is a chance that if I use my sword my instincts could take control and I could accidentally kill one of you. In one on one, it's a different story. I can focus solely on that opponent and take as long as I want before I actually kill them. So I won't have to worry about accidentally killing you any more." The fact that Jagaa said the whole thing calmly and very matter-of-factly was a little unnerving to the other three.

"R-right. No sword until later." Naruto said a little timidly.

"What about 'Kage Bunshins' though?" Sasuke asked. "You've use your sword to destroy them all the time."

"Do you remember when I told you all that I could see through 'Henges' and 'Genjutsus'?" The other three nodded. "Well it's the same thing applies to 'Bunshins'. I can very easily tell the difference between a clone and the real thing. To me, Naruto's 'Kage Bunshins' just look like blue chakra with a human shape. It was the same with Zabuza's 'Mizu Bunshins', they just looked like water with a human form."

"Have you figured out why you can do that yet?" Ino asked.

"Unfortunately, no. At first I thought it might be because of my eyes, like with the 'Sharingan' or the 'Byakugan', but that wouldn't explain my ability to always no when people are lying." Jagaa stroked his chin in thought. "I guess you could say that my ability is truth it self. I see things for what they really are. That's the only explanation I can come up with."

The three younger genin accepted Jagaa's answer and went back waiting for Kakashi. They didn't have to wait long though. A few second later there was a popping noise and they all turned to see Kakashi standing at the edge of the bride on the railing and leaning against on the pole of the arch reading 'Icha Icha paradise'. "Yo." He said as he raised his hand in greeting. "Anybody win?"

"No, not this time." Jagaa said as they all took their money back.

Kakashi hopped off the railing and gave them all a smile as he held out four pieces of paper. "Here you go. I thought you might like these."

The four genin looked at him slightly confused before they each grabbed one of the papers. "What are they?" Jagaa asked as they all started to read.

"I have nominated you all for the Chuunin exams." Kakashi said with a smile. Naruto's reaction of course was instantaneous.

"YATTA! I'M GONNA TAKE THE CHUUNIN EXAMS! CHUUNIN EXAMS! CHUUNIN EXA…" Naruto's extremely loud shouts of joy were abruptly stopped by his face slamming into the wooden bridge. (Courtesy of Ino who had beaten Jagaa to the punch…literally)

"Ouch." Was all he said as he climbed back to his feet rubbing the new bump on his head and wincing.

"The exams will start tomorrow, so you'll need to have the forms filled out to turn in when you go. Of course it's up to you if you actually want to take the exams. No one will blame you if you feel like you'd…rather….wait..." Kakashi faltered under the 'Are you stupid?' looks that all four of his genins were giving him. It would seem confidence would not be a problem for this team.

X X X X X

The meeting had ended abruptly with Kakashi giving them the day off to rest before the exams. Jagaa had been told that the Hokage wanted him to sit in on a meeting and left right after Kakashi. Sasuke made some vague explanation about going somewhere before he to disappeared. Neither Naruto nor Ino had anywhere pressing they needed to be and decided to walk together to her family's flower shop and were now conversing idly.

"I wonder where Sasuke has been going lately. He has been disappearing a lot, and always with some vague explanation." Ino said curiously.

"Probably to train his 'sharingan' since Nii-san won't let him use it during sparring." Naruto responded as he kicked a rock in the road.

"Maybe, he has said that he wants to improve it." Ino said thoughtfully. "Nii-san is right about his reason for making him fight without it though. All bloodline users tend to become completely dependent on their bloodline to the point they can't function without it. I mean just look at the Hyuugas. Their entire fighting style depends on having the 'byakugan'. It's just like Nii-san said. If any of these bloodline users were to have to fight someone who knew how to counter it they would be, and I quote, 'Royally Fucked'."

The two of them laughed as they remembered how Sasuke had argued heatedly with Jagaa about the use of the 'Sharingan'. Sasuke had been adamant in his saying it was an Uchiha's duty to improve his abilities with his bloodline but Jagaa finally got Sasuke to give in when he threatened to put Sasuke through another hell week if he caught him using the sharingan in their spars before he gave him the okay. Sasuke had gone rather pale while gulping at the thought and almost timidly asked if he could train the sharingan on his own time. Jagaa gave his consent and the problem had been solved. Sasuke had asked a favor of both Ino and Naruto though. He asked that if he should ever accidentally use his bloodline in their spar with Jagaa, that they immediately give him a mercy killing.

As they laughed both of them had unconsciously moved closer to each other but neither of them had noticed until their arms brushed against the others as they walked. Both of them were instantly brought back to reality by how close they had gotten and jumped away from each other blushing heavily.

Naruto's heart started pounding as he realized that the two of them were, in fact, alone together. He also realized that Ino seemed just as embarrassed about the surprise contact as he was. Maybe, just maybe, this would be a good time to ask her out to get some ramen with him. After all, he could always cover it up as just a friend asking a friend if she seemed upset by the idea. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves as best he could. '_Focus, Naruto!_' He mentally encouraged himself, '_This might be your best chance! Don't blow it!_'

"S-say, Ino-chan." Naruto almost smacked himself for stuttering.

Ino's heart rate quickened slightly at Naruto's tone. '_Is he going to…_' she didn't dare finish the thought in the even she might be wrong. She quickly steeled her nerves and focused on keeping her composure. "Yes? What do you need, Naruto?" She didn't even notice that she was holding her breath.

Naruto opened his mouth as he prepared to ask the question they both wanted asked. Unfortunately at that exact moment they both felt a presence behind them. Spinning around quickly they found themselves being followed by a perfectly square rock, complete with eye holes.

Naruto's eyebrows twitched in annoyance as he dragged his hand down his face in. He knew exactly who was in that box, and they had just ruined probably his best chance to ask Ino out. With a sigh that was mixture of both irritation and defeat he addressed the rock.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Rocks are not perfectly square and definitely don't have eyeholes!"

'As expected from my greatest rival!" The rock said before exploding in a cloud of smoke, leaving behind three coughing and hacking eight year olds. The first boy, named Udon, wore a blue jacket and tan shorts as well as a pair of large round glasses and had short brown hair and a constantly runny nose. The girl, named Moegi, had red hair tied up in two large gravity defying pig tails. She was wearing brown shorts as well as a large pink t-shirt with a small red tank top over the top. The final boy, named Konohamaru, had on grey shorts, a yellow shirt with a black leaf symbol. As with the rest of them, his spiky black hair was being held up by a pair of green goggles that they all wore.

"Udon, you used to much gunpowder!" Konohamaru said through his coughing.

Naruto sighed in defeat again. Cursing his luck and wondering if Kami just plain hated him as a cycle of events ran through his mind. If only him, Sasuke, and Jagaa hadn't been caught trying to coat the Hokage's toilet paper with itching powder two years ago. If only Naruto hadn't used his 'Oroki no Jutsu' so they could make their escape. If only Konohamaru hadn't seen the old man pass out from blood loss and want to learn the move that defeated his grandfather. If only Jagaa and Sasuke hadn't convinced him that teaching it to Konohamaru would be the greatest prank ever pulled on the Hokage. Then he would never have gained an admirer, which would later turn into three, and then they would never have interrupted his chance to ask Ino out. If only. If only.

"What the hell are you three doing here?" Naruto cut in just before the trio could go into their usual prepared introduction of being the 'Konohamaru Corps'.

"Hey, boss! You said you would play ninja with us when you got back from your mission! That was like a month ago wasn't it?" Konohamaru accused.

"Uhh, did I?" Naruto said sheepishly as the three younger children glared accusingly at him. "I'm sorry. I've been so busy lately that I completely forgot."

"Hey, Naruto, who are the kids?" Ino asked.

"Oh, sorry, Ino-chan. This is Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon. I've known them for a while now."

"Oh, well, nice to meet you." Ino said to the three kids.

Konohamaru had not really been listening though since he was too busy looking back and forth between the pair of blondes in front of him before turning to Naruto. "So boss, is she your…?" he stopped and held up his pinky.

Naruto almost choked on his own spit at Konohamaru's question and felt himself blushing furiously. Deciding he would rather not risk Ino's wrath by even joking he answered quickly. "Oh, no she isn't my girlfriend, Konohamaru. She's just my friend, as well as my teammate." Naruto laughed nervously as he answered. Ino was standing behind him so he didn't see the disappointed look that came to Ino's face.

Konohamaru crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Oh, I thought for sure you were going out boss. Are you holding out for that pink haired girl from your class? She is cuter."

Naruto froze as he felt the temperature around them drop significantly. He didn't even need to look to know what the source was. No matter what the circumstances, saying Sakura was better in any way than Ino was asking for a one way ticket to Hell.

"You think so, do you?" Ino said in an overly sweet voice. Even the Konohamaru Corps had picked up on the obvious danger signs and were now backing away slowly. Naruto slowly turned his head and saw Ino's eyes glowing red. The sound of cracking knuckles was all Naruto needed to get him into action.

"RUN!" He yelled at the three terrified kids and all four of them ran for their lives as Ino tore after them with the flames of hell burning in her eyes.

"Boss, I don't want to die!" Konohamaru cried.

"Then run faster!" Naruto yelled back.

Konohamaru didn't need to be told twice and miraculously put on a huge burst of speed and easily left the others behind. He had just disappeared around a corner when they heard the sound of an impact and a loud grunt. The others quickly rounded the corner to see Konohamaru being held in the air by his collar by someone they had never seen before. The boy was wearing a completely black jumpsuit with a strange hood that had a Suna hitai-ate on it and something resembling cat ears sticking out of the top and had on some kind of weird purple face paint. There was also a large object wrapped up and strapped to his back.

"That hurt, you little brat." The stranger said as he continued to hold the struggling Konohamaru in the air.

"Stop it. You're going to get us in trouble." The girl next to him warned. She had on a lavender dress that seemed designed for battle and tied at the waist with a red sash. Her blonde hair was tied up in four pony tails and had a Suna hitai-ate was around her neck. She also wore some sort of long rectangular metal thing on her back.

"Hey, you clown wannabe! Put him down now!" Naruto yelled at the makeup wearing ninja.

"And who's gonna make me? You?" The strange ninja sneered.

"Actually, I won't have too." Naruto said with a smirk.

Before the foreign nin could ask why, a rock sailed out of nowhere and struck the hand that was holding Konohamaru. Making the Suna nin immediately drop the boy and rub at his injured hand before he looked up to see Sasuke sitting in a tree and smirking at him as he juggled three more rocks in his left hand. Naruto had already started moving before the rock hit and caught Konohamaru before he could hit the ground. Almost as an afterthought Naruto kicked the makeup wearing nin in the shin before jumping back to Ino and the others.

The foreign nin was now hopping up and down in pain as he tried to hold both his hand and his shin at the same time. "You fucking bastards! I'm gonna kill you!" He yelled as he pulled the large wrapped object from his back.

"Wait a minute! You're not going to use Karasu are you?" The female Suna nin said in alarm.

"Shut it, Temari! I'm gonna teach these little shits a lesson!" He said as he grabbed the wrappings.

"Kankuro, stop." A dry voice came from the same tree Sasuke was in. With a startled gasp the paint wearing nin looked up into the tree again. A boy with short red hair and all black clothes was standing upside down directly behind Sasuke on the other side of the tree. Over his shoulder was a white sash that seemed to be holding the giant gourd he carried on his back. His teal eyes were also lined with dark circles, as if he hadn't slept in an extremely long time and on his forehead I red was the kanji for 'Love'.

"G-Gaara." He suggestion stammered with fear clearly evident in his voice and his face going white underneath the makeup.

"You are a disgrace to the village. Have you forgotten why we are here?" The boy named Gaara asked coldly, his voice laced with contempt for his teammate.

"L-listen, Gaara. They were the ones who started it." Kankuro said desperately as he tried to placate the other boy.

"Shut up." Gaara's voice had turned dangerous and his eyes narrowed slightly. "Or I'll kill you."

"R-right. I'm sorry. It was my fault." Kankuro apologized quickly.

"Well that was anticlimactic." Another startled gasp rang out and everyone turned to find Jagaa leaning casually against the fence on the other side of the alley with his arms crossed. He gave a slight smile to all of them at their surprised looks. "I guess it's for the best though, with the Chuunin exams and all."

Temari could barely hold her blush as her eyes kept darting from Sasuke, to Naruto, to Jagaa, and then back to Sasuke to start the cycle over again. '_A magazine model type, a rugged and wild type, and bad boy type, with all three being to die for. It's just not fair. Konoha has all the good ones._' She thought dejectedly as she remembered all the rather plain men of Suna.

"Indeed, you'll have to excuse my teammate." Gaara said stoically as he glanced around at the assembled Konoha genin, his eyes first resting on Sasuke. '_That one was able to hit Kankuro with a rock so easily._' His roving eyes then found their way to Naruto. '_That one showed impressive speed when he caught the boy, even having time to kick Kankuro before he moved away._' Finally his eyes rested on Jagaa and narrowed slightly. '_And that one…_' Gaara disappeared in a whirl of sand to reappear by the other Suna nins.

"Were leaving." Gaara said shortly and started walking away with the other two falling quickly into step behind him. They didn't get very far before Sasuke jumped out of the tree and called to them.

"Hey, what's your name?"

Temari turned around instantly. "You mean me?" She asked in a slightly hopeful voice.

"No, the one next to you with the gourd." Temari's shoulders slumped slightly in disappointment.

"I'd like to know your name, though." Jagaa said with a seductive smile, causing the female Suna nin to perk back up and blush deeply.

Gaara turned back around and faced them all. "Sabaku no Gaara. I am also interested in the three of you. What are your names?" His eyes lingered Sasuke, Naruto, and Jagaa, leaving no doubt who he was talking about.

Sasuke was the first to answer. "Uchiha Sasuke."

Naruto answered next. Strangely he was fairly subdued in his response. "Uzumaki Naruto."

"Jagaa. Just Jagaa." Jagaa said at his turn. Gaara focused intently on the Jagaa after he had said his name, and even though they couldn't see his eyes, everyone present got the feeling that Jagaa was doing the same thing to Gaara. Each one seeming to be searching the other for something.

"Jagaa." Gaara said finally breaking the silence. "You…smell of blood." His voice became low and dangerous as he continued to stare at Jagaa.

"So do you." All trace of his usual humor was gone as he spoke in the same low and dangerous tone that Gaara had used.

No one said a word as the two continued to stare each other down. Finally it was Gaara once again who spoke first. "We'll be leaving now. I look forward to meeting you all in the Chuunin exam." Without another word he turned and walked off with Temari and Kankuro following closely.

"Well that was fun." Jagaa said casually as he pushed himself off the wall.

"Uh, Nii-san?" Naruto said sounding almost nervous. "Should we be worried about that guy? His eyes seemed kind of, dangerous."

"I agree." Sasuke cut in. "I got a close up look at his eyes when we were in the tree, and they are not pleasant."

Jagaa nodded. "You're both right. That guy is not someone who should be taken lightly." Jagaa looked down the alley in the direction the Suna nin had taken, his eyes narrowing behind his sunglasses. '_That guy has at least as much blood on his hands as I do. Maybe more._' Jagaa shook himself from his thoughts and turned back to the others. "Try not to worry about him right now though. We'll deal with him when the time comes. For now just try to enjoy the rest of your day and rest up for the Chuunin exams tomorrow." With a casual wave he walked away from them all, his mind still focused on the dangerous new arrival. '_A boy younger than me who also has a past soaked in blood._' Jagaa looked at the sky with a slight smirk coming to his face. '_This exam may be more fun than I thought._'

X X X X X

The next morning found Ino sitting in the living room of Naruto, Jagaa, and Sasuke's new home as she waited for the three of them to finish getting ready. She still couldn't believe that they now had a three bedroom house only a block away from her own home. The boys had told her that they had been surprised as well. They had only been planning to get a larger apartment, but apparently the Hokage had stepped in and made arrangements for them. Of course, the way Sasuke told the story it had seemed like the Hokage's stepping in might have had something to do with a couple _incidents_ between Jagaa and some of the apartment complex owners during the apartment hunt. Ino wasn't really to sure she wanted to know the details of the incidents, but if Jagaa had been involved, it couldn't have been pretty. Ino thoughts were abruptly cut off as an argument suddenly started in the hall way.

"Naruto, quit whacking off and get the hell out of the bathroom! I got to take a shit!"

A door was slammed open violently. "I can't believe you just said that, Nii-san! Ino's in the living room for Kami's sake!"

"Well then next time don't take so long in the bathroom, dobe."

"Shut it, teme! Or you won't make it to the Chuunin exams!"

"You want to go, dobe!"

"Bring it on!"

"Both of you shut the hell up before I kick _both_ your asses, and make sure you eat before we leave!" A door slammed shut.

Ino couldn't help but wonder if the three of them would actually survive living together.

X X X X X

"I wonder what's going on." Naruto said as the four of them came across a group of people blocking the hall way.

"Don't know." Sasuke said as they got closer. "But it looks like this floor has a genjutsu on it to fool people into thinking that they have reached the third floor.

"I noticed that too." Ino added. "Of course it would be hard not to considering we only went up one set of stairs so we couldn't actually be on the second floor. I can't believe people are actually trying to get into the wrong room that those genin are guarding."

Jagaa turned his head to his three younger teammates and spoke lowly so those around them wouldn't hear. "You all are going to have to tell me exactly what I'm _supposed_ be seeing, as opposed to what I _am_ seeing. Genjutsus don't work on me remember." '_Neither do henges_.' He added mentally as he looked watched the two Chuunin in front of the door.

"There are two genin guarding a door that has been put under a genjutsu to look like its room 301." Sasuke said in the same low tone Jagaa used. "It looks like a couple of people have tried to get in and were stopped forcibly."

"Hmm, interesting. Well let's not go blowing the whistle on them just yet. This may be entertaining." Jagaa said as he watched a few people arguing with the Chuunins.

"Why don't we just bypass them all together and eliminate some of the competition?" Ino asked.

"What would be the fun in that?"

The other three just shook their heads at Jagaa. They were all to aware that he was just trying to increase the amount of people he would get to fight, since none of them were dumb enough to believe that they could be made Chuunin without some kind of test on their combat abilities.

"Hey, Ino-pig." A voice called out. Ino stiffened before turning to see her rival Haruno Sakura walking up with her teammates Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji. "Hello, Sasuke-kun." Sakura said as seductively as possible. Sasuke just rolled his eyes at the pink haired girl's antics, causing her to pout a bit.

"Hey, forehead! Leave my teammate alone!" Ino yelled at the pink haired girl. Sakura looked a little surprised at Ino's choice of words but shrugged it off as her trying to get points with Sasuke.

"Go away, piggy! Sasuke and I have some catching up to do." Sakura pulled down her eyelid and stuck her tongue out at her blonde rival.

"SA-KU-RA!" Ino grated out each syllable.

Off to the side Shikamaru was muttering about 'troublesome women', Chouji was munching on a bag of chips, and Naruto and Sasuke were placing bets on which girl would throw the first punch.

Jagaa just laughed to himself as he moved through the crowd so he could get a better view of the people trying to get through the door. He had just gotten to the front when he saw a boy wearing a hideous green spandex jumpsuit get knocked down by one of the chuunins. He didn't think much of it until a very familiar brunette with her hair tied up in two buns crouched down next to him. '_Tenten?_' He looked from her back down to the boy on the ground. '_I guess he's her teammate. Man, that guy's clothing makes even Naruto's old orange jumpsuit look fashionable, and what's with those eyebrows._' Jagaa shuddered slightly at the sight of the boys extremely thick eyebrows.

"You think you're ready to take the Chuunin exams at that level." One of the Chuunin said. "You should just quit now. You're all still just a bunch of kids."

"Please let us through." Tenten said in a demure voice, almost making Jagaa choke on his own saliva. Not once since he had met her had she acted that feminine. He was brought out of his thoughts when Tenten stood up and walked timidly forward.

The Chuunin smirked and punched Tenten as soon as she got close enough, sending her falling back by her teammate. He was about to say something but never got the chance as he was suddenly struck in the face so hard that he crashed through the door behind him, knocking him out and making him drop the henge.

A stunned silence filled the air as Jagaa pulled his fist back and looked down at the now unconscious Chuunin. Behind him he could hear Naruto calling his name as he and the others ran up to him, but he was to deep in thought to care as he tried to figure out what had made him react like that. The only thing Jagaa knew for sure was that he was _irritated_. He wasn't angry, oh no. If he had been angry the man would be dead, not unconscious. He couldn't deny though that something about seeing the henged Chuunin strike Tenten irritated him greatly. Jagaa wanted to chalk it his big brother instincts, because he knew for a fact that if the Chuunin had hit Ino he would have ended up on the ground or worse just as fast, but for some reason it just didn't feel quite the same.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" The other Chuunin yelled at Jagaa after finally recovering from his surprise. Jagaa looked at him but didn't answer. He was still rather irritated and if this man was volunteering to be an outlet for him to get rid of that irritation. Well, who was he to decline?

"You want to just ignore me, huh! Well I'll teach you to be careful who you mess with!" The Chuunin threw a kick at Jagaa's head, as Jagaa just stood there and watched the attack come in and thought about all the ways he could counter. He never got the chance to go through with any of them because at that moment a green blur appeared in front of him and caught the kick.

Jagaa blinked in surprise when he realized the green blur had been Tenten's spandex wearing teammate before his eyes narrowed slightly. '_Not bad. This guy has some speed._'

"You broke the agreement, Lee" A new voice said. Jagaa looked over to see a long brown haired boy wearing a tan jacket and grey pants. Jagaa also noticed that his eyes were pale and pupil less marking him as a Hyuuga. "You were the one that didn't want to do anything to stand out remember."

"But, Neji." The spandex wearing boy said before turning to look somewhere and blushing. Jagaa followed his line of sight and couldn't stop the slightly sadistic chuckle that came out at the sight of one very scared Haruno Sakura.

The boy walked up to Sakura and struck a nice guy pose. "My name is Rock Lee. Will you go out with me?"

"Eh?!" Was all the horrified Sakura could manage to get out. Of course Ino took full advantage of the situation.

"Well, Forehead, it looks like you have an admirer. Good luck, I bet you'll make a lovely couple." Laughing maniacally Ino started down the hall with Naruto and Sasuke behind her, though both boys were keeping a bit of distance between them and the psychotically laughing blonde. Jagaa started to follow them when Tenten stepped out in front of him.

"Why did you do that? I don't need you to defend me." Tenten was glaring, but Jagaa simply looked right back at her, completely unfazed by the anger in her chocolate eyes.

"I sure you don't. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure why myself. Maybe the sight of you acting all timid and demure sparked my chivalrous nature." Jagaa said with a small smirk.

"I don't think 'chivalry' usually involves knocking someone through a door." Tenten deadpanned and Jagaa's smirk widened.

"Heh, you might be right at that, Mousey."

"Quit calling me that!" Tenten grated out between clenched teeth.

"Would you prefer 'Buns'? Because I love the thought of all the double meanings I could make with that."

"Neither, you pervert!"

Jagaa laughed at the blush that had started to form on the girls face when he started talking about the double meanings before being hit with (in his opinion) a great idea.

"Say, Mousey. How hard is it for you to put your hair into those buns?" He asked innocently.

"Not too hard, I've gotten pretty good at it." Tenten replied. Even before her mouth finished closing she realized she had just made a huge mistake as Jagaa deftly removed her ties so that her hair fell freely down her back and around her face.

"Yep, I definitely needed to see that again. You really do look incredible with your hair down. I still don't know why you're so insistent about putting it up in those buns." Jagaa said as he tossed her ties back to her. "Well, I have to catch up to my team. Good luck in the Chuunin exams, Mousey." Jagaa turned and walked down leaving Tenten to glare after him. Her face was beet red, but whether it was from rage or embarrassment she wasn't quite sure.

Hyuuga Neji watched Jagaa leave with narrowed eyes. '_First there is Uchiha Sasuke, this years 'number one rookie', and now this guy. It would seem fate has given my some interesting opponents._' Neji looked back at Tenten and a small smirk came to his face. He had to admit that Jagaa had been right. Tenten did look good with her hair down. Not that he would ever admit that to her.

X X X X X

"Glad to see you could join us, Jagaa." Kakashi said with an amused smile.

"Sorry, I was busy flirting with a girl that probably wants to kill me." Jagaa said without the slightest hint of embarrassment.

The rest of his team sweat dropped. "Is there ever a time that you're not flirting Nii-san?" Naruto asked.

"…Can I get back to you on that?"

Naruto, Ino, and Sasuke all shook their heads in exasperation as Kakashi just smiled behind his mask before speaking again. "Well, since you're all here now. I think it's time for you to start your Chuunin exam don't you?"

"YOSH! Let's do this!" Naruto yelled pumping his fist into the air. The rest just gave nods of agreement before Kakashi moved to the side and watched them go in, a proud smile playing behind his mask.

X X X X X

"The atmosphere's a bit tense in here, wouldn't you say." Jagaa stated calmly as he looked at the very large gathering of genin that were currently glaring at the four of them.

"It just shows how nervous they are." Sasuke said just as calmly. Ino and Naruto didn't say anything but both were doing a very good job of glaring right back at the other genin.

The door opened behind them and they turned to Sakura, Shikamaru, and Chouji walk in followed by Neji, Tenten, and Lee. Lee seemed to be trying to talk to Sakura but she very firmly ignored him until he had to leave her alone to stay with his team. Tenten sent a glare at Jagaa as her team walked by, so of course Jagaa smiled and waved while mouthing 'Hi, Mousey'.

"So, Billboard Brow, when's the wedding gonna be. I bet your children will look lovely with a combination of huge eyebrows and huge foreheads." Ino smirked as Sakura looked like she was going to be sick.

"Now, now, imouto. I don't think even I would wish something like," Jagaa jerked his thumb over his shoulder, "_That_, on any one. That's just plain evil." He smiled knowingly at the pink haired girl who actually looked extremely grateful for his intervention.

"Well, well, it looks the all of as made it here." The seven genin turned to Inuzuka Kiba waving to them as he walked up followed by Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino.

"Hey, Mutt. Didn't think we would be seeing you here." Naruto said loudly.

"Well if they let you in, then of course I would be here." Kiba said with an arrogant smirk.

Naruto was obviously about to make some kind of retort but the glares from his teammates stopped him in his tracks. They really didn't want to hear him yelling right now it seemed.

"A-ano, Sasuke-kun." Hinata said timidly but still managing to get everyone's attention. "G-gomenasai, for missing our usual lunch yesterday. Our t-team meeting took longer than usual."

"No problem, Hinata. Something ended up happening anyway so it may have been better that you couldn't make it.

"Hold on a minute!" Kiba suddenly yelled. "You mean that you have been having lunch with this guy regularly?!" The rest of the group looked just as surprised as he sounded.

"H-hai, for a-about a month now, w-we have g-gone to lunch on S-Saturdays since b-both our teams usually g-get the d-day off." Hinata answered as a blush formed on her cheeks from all the attention.

Jagaa was the first to recover and instantly moved to Sasuke's side and threw an arm over his shoulder while smiling evilly. "So, Sasuke, why didn't you tell us about this little tidbit of information? I mean seriously, if you get a girlfriend you're supposed to share that info." Sasuke gaped at Jagaa but couldn't say anything because Naruto had just moved to his other side and threw his own arm over Sasuke's shoulder, mirroring his brother's expression.

"That's right. I mean, what's next? Will the two of you just elope or something without a word to anyone?" It was at that moment that the world was privileged to a sight unseen before by man. A very deeply blushing Uchiha Sasuke.

"She's not my girlfriend you assholes!" Sasuke yelled in anger and embarrassment attracting even more attention to the already embarrassing scene. "We're just friends who go out for lunch!" Hinata looked like she was about set a new record for blushing the deepest shade of red in history.

"Me thinks the boy doth protest to much." Jagaa said sagely as Naruto, with his eyes closed as if deep in thought was nodding his head in agreement. Sasuke couldn't even form words anymore as he stand there gaping like a fish. Off to the side Ino was doing her best to hold back her laughter at Sakura's mortified expression.

"Well, Sasuke. I think the time has finally come for me to give you this." Jagaa said in a proud voice as he reached into his shuriken pouch before pulling out a very familiar little orange book. "I had to buy my own copy since Kakashi wanted his back, but I don't mind giving it to you."

"WHY THE HELL WOULD I WANT THAT!" Sasuke screamed.

"What? I'll admit that some of the positions in it aren't all that realistic but it should give you a good idea of what you're supposed to do. You wouldn't want to disappoint her the first time would you?"

Both Sasuke and Hinata looked at Jagaa in shock and horror for at least a full minute both of them promptly passed out and fell to the ground with two distinct thuds. Unfortunately for Sasuke, a small amount of blood had started to run from his nose.

"Well that worked out better than I hoped." Jagaa said with a laugh as he put the book back in his shuriken pouch. The rest of the rookie genin in the room could only stare at Jagaa in a mixture of shock and awe.

"Hey, you guys. Don't you think you should quiet down a little?" The entire group turned to see a silver haired Konoha genin in purple clothes and wearing round glasses walking up to them. Sasuke had no idea who this boy was, but he was silently thanking Kami for his timely arrival.

"So you're the genin rookies who just recently graduated from the academy are you. You may want to stop drawing attention to yourselves. Tensions are running high because of the exam. If you draw attention to yourselves, you become a target." The silver haired boy said.

"So, who are you?" Ino said with a bit of an edge in her voice. For some reason she didn't like this guy.

"Me? I'm Yakushi Kabuto, and this is my seventh time taking this exam." He smiled embarrassedly when everyone stared at him in varying degrees of shock. The only one who wasn't was Jagaa. He was staring through narrowed eyes for an entirely different reason. It wasn't that the teen in front of them was lying, because Jagaa had yet to notice that, but something didn't seem quite right about the guy.

"Well, why don't I help out my cute little underclassmen with these information cards I have." Kabuto said as he pulled out a stack of orange cards. "These cards are made so that they can't be seen without my chakra. I have been gathering data on the Chuunin exam for the last four years, so I have a good deal of information here." As an example he put a finger to one of the cards and channeled some chakra into it. With a puff of smoke the card changed from a blank white to a detailed graph of the amount of participants from each village in the exam.

"Impressive." Sasuke said. "Do you have any cards with personal data on the participants?"

"Yes, I do. Is there someone who you've taken an interest in?"

"Yeah, Gaara from Sunagakure."

"Since you know the name this won't take long." Kabuto made quick swipe with his hand and pulled out a card. He put the card down and channeled his chakra into it to make it visible, and started to explain what it said. "Sabaku no Gaara. He's completed eight 'C' class missions and one 'B' ranked mission since he became a genin." Kabuto stopped and looked up the group. "I don't have much more than that since this is his first time taking the exam, but I do know that he has returned from every mission unharmed." The only one in the group that did not act shocked by the news was Jagaa. He was still too busy trying to place the strange vibe he was getting of the purple wearing teen.

Kabuto put the Gaara card away and took out the chart card again. "Konoha, Suna, Ame, Kusa, Taki, and Oto. Many talented Genins have come from these countries to take the Chuunin exam this year. Although, because Oto is a village from a small country that was just recently made I don't have much information on them."

Jagaa's head snapped down at Kabuto as the teen finished speaking with only one thought in his head.

'_Got you._'

Every thing Kabuto had said to them had been completely true, until that last part. Kabuto was lying about not having information on Oto, and the only reason he would do that is if he had some sort of connection with the other village. They would have to keep an eye on this Kabuto guy.

Right now though, there was something else to take care of. "So everyone here is supposed to be the elites of their village, right?" Jagaa said to Kabuto.

"That's right."

"I see," Jagaa turned to Naruto. "Would you like to do the honors, Otouto?"

Naruto grinned at his older brother while Ino and Sasuke smirked slightly. They all knew exactly what he Jagaa meant. They each moved next to each other and faced the crowed. Naruto took his cue.

"LISTEN UP YOU ASSHOLES!" Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs, getting everyone's attention. "We're team 7 and we're not gonna lose to any of you! If you got a problem with that, step up now so we kick your ass now instead of later!" The deadly silence that ensued after Naruto's statement was broken when Jagaa started clapping.

"Not bad. I'll give you a seven out of ten." Jagaa said.

"Nani? I even called them assholes! That should be worth at least an eight out of ten!"

"Fine, fine, eight out of ten."

"YATTA!"

Ino and Sasuke just shook their heads in amusement.

"Are the four of you fucking crazy?" Kiba suddenly yelled at them. "You just managed to make an enemy of everyone in this room!"

"Well, then at least it wasn't a wasted effort." Jagaa said coolly. Then out of the corner of his eye Jagaa saw three people dashing stealthily through the crowd. He also noticed that Naruto, Ino, and Sasuke were reaching for their weapons which meant they saw them as well. The way the ninja were moving though it was obvious that the four of them were not the target so Jagaa raised his arm slightly to stop them from making any rash attacks. 'Let' see how this plays out.' He whispered to them. With a nod they stopped their attempts to get any weapons ready.

A few seconds later a ninja spiky black hair wearing a long sleeve yellow shirt jumped into the air and threw two kunai at Kabuto. Kabuto jumped back to avoid them but then a ninja with a bandaged up face wearing a very long sleeved grey jacked shot forward pulling up his sleeve to reveal some sort of large metal bracer with holes in the top and aimed a punch for Kabuto's face. Kabuto dodged back and avoid the hit but a second later his glasses broke and he fell to his knees before throwing up.

"Remember this." The bandaged faced genin said. "The ninja of Oto are not to be taken lightly." Next to him stood the spiky haired boy from earlier as well as a girl with long dark hair and wearing a sleeveless green shirt and white and black camo print pants. The two whose faces could be seen were smirking as the three of them moved back into the crowd.

"So what do you think?" Jagaa asked the other members of his team.

"He definitely dodged," Sasuke said. "My guess is that it had something to do with that bracer of his. Why else would he have to reveal it?"

The other's nodded their agreement as they watched Kabuto climb shakily back to his feet.

"Quiet down you bastards!" Everyone turned to the front of the room to see an explosion of smoke before a larger group of Chuunin and what looked to be a Jounin standing there. Jagaa recognized two of the chuunin's as the ones who had been guarding the door and was pleased to see the one he hit had a black eye and a welt on his face.

The apparent Jounin wore a grey uniform with a black trench coat over the top and his hitai-ate covered his entire scalp with the cloth. It was the scars on his face though, that drew the most attention. One started under his right eye and went around his cheek, and the other seemed to start beneath his hitai-ate and went past his left eye and down across his mouth. Jagaa was very glad that he had always been so paranoid about having his sunglasses knocked off that he had always taken care to protect his face. He had enough scars as it was.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." The scarred man apologized without much sincerity. "I am the first examiner of the Chuunin exams, Morino Ibiki."

**A/N:** Well I hope you liked it. Hopefully I can get the next chapter out fairly quickly but I'm not making any promises. You're welcome to leave a review if you like. Until next time, Ja Ne.


	13. Exams Can Be Painfull

**A/N:** Finally, I have completed Chapter thirteen. This took _wwwaaaaaayyyyyyy_ longer than I expected it to. That's why, while I may make estimates, I never make promises on when the next chap will be out. By the way, this is the longest chap to date. Hope you all like it.

**Disclaimer:** If I've said it once, I've said it thirteen times to date. I do not own Naruto.

**Chapter 13:** Exams can be painful

"All of you listen up. This first exam has a few important rules. I won't be taking any questions so you'd best pay attention!" Ibiki said in his intimidating tone after all the genin had taken the seat with the number they had been given, effectively separating them from their teams.

"The first rule is that this exam is deduction based. You will all start out with a total of ten points and there are ten questions on this test. For every answer you get wrong on the test, you will lose one point. One wrong answer takes you to nine points, three takes you to seven, and so on. The Second rule, is that the decision if you pass or fail is determined by your teams total score."

"Finally, if an examiner," Ibiki motioned to the Chuunin sitting on the sides of the room, "determines that you cheated, you will lose two points for each time you're caught. If you are caught cheating five times you will be forced to leave without even having your test graded and will be failed along with the rest of your team. Those who try to cheat without thinking are only hurting themselves. If you are really ninja, act like first rate ones."

"The last problem will be given forty-five minutes after the exam has started. You have one hour to complete the exam. Now, Begin!"

In an instant the room was filled with the sounds of pencils being pushed along paper as the would be chuunins worked on their tests.

Sasuke was looking over the test carefully as his mind replayed the rules of the test. It had only taken one look at the questions to know that there was no possibility of a normal genin being able to answer them. So, if you were to combine that with the lenient rule of losing points when caught cheating instead of being kicked out right away. The only logical conclusion was that the test was designed for cheating. It was then that he noticed someone in front of him who seemed to be answering the questions with little difficulty. Thinking quickly, Sasuke activated his Sharingan and used the copying effects of his dojutsu to mimic the movements of the boys hand to write down the answers.

Ino had figured out the rules of the test as well, and was currently watching Sakura intently as the pink haired girl confidently answered the questions. It wouldn't take long before Sakura would be finished with the test, and then Ino would be able to use her family's 'Shintenshin No Jutsu' to enter Sakura's mind and look over the other girls test and memorize the answers.

Knowing she had a little time before she needed to take over Sakura, Ino carefully let her eyes wander to a certain blonde before she sighed at the sight. Naruto was obviously panicking. She wasn't sure if he understood the real purpose behind the test or not, but it was clear that even if he had, he couldn't figure out a way to get the answers.

What made it worse was that Ino could normally have helped him by using the 'Shintenshin No Jutsu' on him and writing down the answers on his paper. Unfortunately though, after a sparing match where Sasuke and Naruto had set Jagaa up so that she could use the technique on him to get the win, Jagaa had forbidden her from using it on Naruto. His reasons were that it was impossible to know what could happen if she did since the Kyuubi was sealed inside him and had its own consciousness. There was no way to know if she would be safe or not. So until they were able to ask someone about the exact workings of the seal, she was not to use it on Naruto. So now because of that, Ino could only hope that Naruto would be able to figure something out.

True to Ino's assessment, Naruto was indeed panicking as he stared at his still blank paper. Unfortunately the very idea of a paper test was enough to destroy any semblance of rational thinking in the blondes mind. He was so caught up in how bad he was at them that he had completely missed almost all of the rules. He had just managed to catch some of the rules on cheating, but only enough of it to scare him out of the very idea of cheating. Getting the crap kicked out of him by his brother because he had gotten their team kicked out by being caught too many times was _not_ on Naruto's to do list. To bad for that, because if he had had the nerve to look around the room, he would have seen something that may have dispelled his fears of the test.

Jagaa currently had his head laying on his lest arm on top of the table with his left arm resting comfortably in his lap, and looked to all casual observers to be very asleep. If they could have seen through his dark sunglasses though, they would have seen his eyes darting here and there taking in everything they could in that position. Jagaa had gotten lucky. With the placement he had, he could easily see the rest of his team. He had seen Sasuke activate his 'Sharingan' and start copying the hand movements of the person in front of him, as well as seeing Ino's intent focus on Sakura making it easy to figure out her plan.

However when he saw Naruto he sighed quietly. It was so obvious that Naruto was panicking that it wasn't even funny. He had always been bad at paper tests, and with so much on the line Naruto was probably close to having a complete mental melt down.

Jagaa sighed again. He really wished he could tell Naruto that the whole damn test was a bunch of bull shit. Nearly all the rules of the test were lies. Hell, the only thing that had been true was the 'getting kicked out if you're caught cheating too many times rule, which meant you could probably pass without doing a damned thing. In fact, that had been his plan until he saw Naruto. '_Oh well, its not like it will be that hard to get what I need, and I might be able to have a little fun while I'm at it._' Jagaa's slightly evil smile was hidden by the placement of his arm. Focusing on two genin who seemed to be answering the questions with relative ease, Jagaa waited.

Ibiki was watching Jagaa through narrowed eyes. As soon as the test had begun the boy had simply put his head on his desk and made no move to even pretend to be answering the question. '_Heh, he knows which rules are lies and which aren't so he has no reason to take the test seriously. I just hope no one else catches on.'_ Ibiki thought to himself before he turned his attention back to others in the room.

Thirty minutes had passed since the start of the test. In this time eleven people had been caught cheating and were forced to leave the room along with their teams. Naruto was still panicking, Sasuke had deactivated his 'Sharingan' after getting all his answers, and Ino was writing down the answers she memorized when she took over Sakura.

Jagaa sighed as he saw Naruto still had not come up with any way of getting the answers for himself, and reached into his weapons pouch. '_When this is over I am going to pound the shit out of him for freaking out like that, but at least I can use this as a lesson of sorts for him and the other two._' Jagaa pulled his hand from his pouch and revealed five smoke bombs. Jagaa took note of where he would throw the bombs, as well as the four locations he would need to move to. '_When stealth is impossible, try boldness._' Jagaa threw the smoke bombs in rapid succession with quick flicks of his wrist.

The first smoke bomb went off at the front of the classroom a few feet in front of Ibiki. The next went off near the genin Jagaa was targeting, then another one next to Jagaa himself. The last two went off on either side of the room farther back and had the effect of effectively filling the entire room with smoke. Jagaa moved once the commotion started.

"Open those windows!" Ibiki yelled at the chuunin examiners. "Clear this smoke out!" The sound of windows being slammed open was heard immediately after but in the midst of it Ibiki heard a very loud _THUMP_ followed a few seconds later by another one.

"Does anyone know a 'Fuuton' jutsu?" Some one yelled through the smoke. Soon after the room was hit by a gust of wind that had people clutching on to their test sheets as the smoke was blown out of the room. It took all of ten seconds for the smoke to fully clear before Ibiki was able to examine the room.

It wasn't hard to find the source of the two loud 'thumps' when he saw two genin with their faces flat on their desk, a small puddle of blood forming around their head, and their answer sheets missing. A quick examination showed that the two were still alive but unconscious, and had been rendered that way by (if the dents in the wood were any indication) having their faces slammed into the desk in front of them. Ibiki let his eyes travel over to a certain black wearing blonde he knew, and wasn't surprised to see said boy looking at him with a faint smirk on his face. Ibiki felt a small smirk of his own form as he looked back at his part time assistant interrogator. The kid was good, he had to give him that.

Besides Ibiki, there were only two others who knew exactly who it was that threw the smoke bombs. One was a very happy blonde boy, who was staring at the completely filled out answer sheet in front of him as if it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. The other was a _very_ pissed of brunette who was furiously putting her hair back into its normal, double bun style, and mentally vowing swift and terrible vengeance upon a certain sword wielding pain in the ass she knew.

Towards the front of the class Jagaa had once again put his head down, this time on his folded arms, and was smiling to himself as he felt the Tenten's killing intent focusing solely on himself. He was going to catch some serious hell later for letting her hair down again, but it was worth it. With those happy thoughts and a filled out answer sheet in front of him, Jagaa drifted to a comfortable doze while listening to the windows being shut once again.

Finally the forty-five minute mark came and Ibiki spoke up to get everyone's attention. "Well, it seems we have gotten rid of the incompetents, so I will now give out the tenth question. However, there are certain rules about this question. The first being that you will choose whether or not you will take the tenth question. If you do choose not to, then your points will be reduced to zero and you will fail along with your team." Ibiki paused for a moment and glared menacingly at the assembled Genin. "However, if you do choose to take it, and you get it wrong, you will never again be allowed to take the Chuunin exam." His declaration was met with many enraged and disbelieving shouts.

"Nani?!"

"You can't be serious!"

"We know for a fact that other's have taken the exam before!"

"Shut the hell up!" Ibiki yelled over the rest of the shouts and instantly quieted the room. "You all were unlucky this year, because this year _I_ m the rules. You should be grateful that I am giving you the option of quitting now." Ibiki finished with a vicious smirk that chilled many of the assembled genin to their bones. "So, who's feeling confident enough to risk their future on one final question?"

Silence filled the air. Every second seemed like an eternity. Finally the silence was broken.

"I quit." An unknown Konoha genin said in despair and rose to his feet. His action was soon followed by several other genin raising their own hands and quitting.

"Numbers 25, 76, 91, 50, 34, 18, and 27, you and your teammates all fail." One of the examiners yelled out. Slowly the mentioned genin and their teammates got up and left the room.

There were however three genin who, not only had absolutely no intention of quitting, were actually scared of what would happen if they did quit.

'_After Nii-san took the time to get me the answers, you expect me to quit! Do you think I'm suicidal or something?_'

'_I won't go through another 'Hell Week'! I won't!_'

'_We were just scared of being stuck as genin, Nii-san. You understand, right? Yeah, like I'm gonna say that to someone who has been in life and death situations since he was six. I don't think so!_

If only the three hapless genin had known that the source of their fears couldn't care less whether they all passed or not, they might have been more inclined to consider their options.

The minutes passed slowly as examiners and examinees alike waited to see if anyone else would raise their hand, the silence in the room being broken by an occasional soft snore from Jagaa.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Ibiki spoke again. "Is anyone else going to quit?" His question was met with silence as he looked around the room. Another soft snore brought his attention to Jagaa and Ibiki felt his eye twitch ever so slightly. Ibiki looked back to the rest of the genin in the room. "All right then. Everyone in this room…passes!"

A shocked silence filled the room, as every genin (Except Jagaa. He was still sleeping.) were left blinking in confusion as they tried to figure out what just happened.

It was Sakura who was finally able to voice everyone's confusion. "Wait a minute! What do you mean we passed? What about the tenth question?"

"There was no tenth question to begin with. Or maybe I should say that the take or not take decision was the tenth question." Ibiki said with a smirk.

"What? Then what were the other questions for?" Temari yelled.

"The purpose of the first nine questions were to test your information gathering abilities. By giving you questions that would be impossible for a normal genin to answer, you were forced to get the answers by cheating. For that purpose, we snuck two Chuunin who knew the answers into the exam." Ibiki saw a few people looking around trying to figure out who the Chuunin were. "In case you're wondering. The two Chuunin we planted were the two that _somebody_," Ibiki's eyes flickered to Jagaa for the briefest of seconds, "knocked out after letting those smoke bombs off."

Ibiki looked around hard around the room before he started speaking again. "Listen and listen well. In the world of Shinobi, information can be more valuable than life. The day may one day come when…"

Ibiki was cut short by a large black ball smashing through the window in the front of the class room. The ball then split apart as two kunai attached to the cloth that was the ball flew out and embedded them selves in the roof. The cloth opened to reveal a woman with dark purple hair tied back in a fanned out, gravity defying ponytail, and golden brown, pupil less eyes. She wore a long brown trench coat, and a fishnet shirt that did nothing to hide her skimpy black lace bra over her well endowed assets, as well as a rather short brown skirt over fishnet shorts, and a set of grey, armored shin guards. The cloth behind her had large white letters spelling out 'Second examiner, Mitarashi Anko, is here!'"

"All right maggots! The Super Sexy second examiner, Mitarashi Anko, is here! Now, let's get going to the next exam!" The strange woman yelled as she pumped her fist into the air. Her exuberant shout was met with a shocked silence.

"First off, Anko." Ibiki said while trying to hide his irritation. "The second exam isn't until tomorrow. Second, you are ten minutes early. Lastly, you just cut in to my speech on the importance of information in the shinobi world."

"Maa, whatever." Anko said waving her hand dismissively. "It couldn't have been all that good anyway. I mean look, that guy's even asleep." Anko looked uninterestedly at Jagaa before doing a comedic double take. "Wait a minute, THAT GUYS ASLEEP! THAT MEANS HE COMPLETELY MISSED MY DRAMATIC ENTERANCE! I WONT STAND FOR IT!" Anko pointed threateningly at the genin sitting next to Jagaa. "You, wake him up this instant so that he may wallow in the glory that is Mitarashi Anko!"

Her words succeeded in bringing Naruto violently out of his shock induced stupor. "NO, WAIT!" They he yelled desperately.

His shout came to late as the genin had already started shaking Jagaa. "Hey man, you need to…"

Before he could say anything else, Jagaa grabbed the hand that was shaking just before ramming his elbow into the other genins face. Without pause Jagaa made a quick jerk and grabbed the boy firmly before throwing him forcefully through the closed window right next to the one Anko had broken on her entrance. Jagaa seemed to stare at the window he had just broken with a human body for a moment before putting his head back down again. A soft snoring told everyone that he was once again fast asleep.

Once again the room was filled with a shocked silence as people looked at Jagaa before slowly turning to Naruto who had stood up when he yelled and was now sheepishly scratching his head. "I tried to warn you. Nii-san doesn't really sleep that often, but when he does it can be a little dangerous to wake him up. To date, I've been thrown through four second story windows and two closed doors." Naruto said laughing embarrassedly as most of the other genin stared at him in shock.

"That reminds me." Sasuke suddenly spoke up. "We still need to fix that hole in the hall way my head made when he threw me through his door." Sasuke rubbed a spot on his head that had been struck by a phantom pain.

"I did warn you."

"I thought you were joking, or at least exaggerating."

"So how do you wake him up then? Do you throw something at him?" An Ame nin asked curiously.

"Hell no! That is almost as dangerous, maybe more dangerous, since he tends to send whatever you threw back at you. Hard!" Naruto said as he winced remembering first time he had tried that. He didn't know it was possible to be knocked out by a plush toy. "There is only one safe way to wake him, and with her here," Naruto pointed at Anko, "It will be even easier. Watch."

Naruto turned to Jagaa and took a deep breath. "Hey, Nii-san! There's a woman in here, wearing really skimpy clothes!" He yelled.

Jagaa's head instantly came up and proceeded to look around. "Huh, where?" He asked sleepily. All around the room the sounds of people falling out of their chairs was heard. Once he finally spotted Anko his eyebrows rose above his glasses slightly before a small smirk came to his face. "Now that's a sight worth waking up for." He said appreciatively.

Anko suddenly disappeared from the front of the class and reappeared behind Jagaa, where she then wrapped her arms around his neck and started to nuzzle her cheek into his. "Ah, isn't he sweet." Anko said in a cutesy voice causing everyone to sweat drop.

Anko's innocent smile turned into a seductive one as she leaned back and started whispering into Jagaa's ear. Jagaa's eyebrows again rose over his glasses for a moment before dropping back down and his smirk widening. Leaning away and turning his head he started whispering back to Anko who leaned her head forward so that she could hear him better.

Anko's eyes slowly widened as Jagaa continued to whisper before an excited, and rather perverted, grin came to her face. Turning her head around Anko addressed the rest of the genin in a rushed voice. "The second exam is tomorrow! Ask your Jounin sensei where you need to be and when! Everyone's dismissed!" She tightened her grip on Jagaa who looked like he was about to try to get up. "Except you. You're coming with me." With that the two of them disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Once again the room was filled with a heavy silence as everyone stared at the spot the two had just occupied.

"Well, at least we can be sure that he'll know where to be tomorrow, right?" Naruto said nervously to Ino and Sasuke who both mutely nodded. Unnoticed in her seat, Tenten was carving long gashes into the desk with a kunai.

X X X X X

The next day found all of the genin examinees standing outside a fence surrounding a huge dark forest with a sign on the entrance calling it "The Forest of Death". Its ominous aura rippled off the trees themselves, promising certain doom upon all who would enter. The genin didn't notice this though, seeing as they were all too enthralled with the sight of a raging Ino rather violently shaking a helpless Naruto by the front of his dark blue hoodie.

"What's taking him so long? We were all supposed to be here twenty minutes ago! WHERE THE HELL IS HE!?" Poor Naruto couldn't even try to answer as his head flopped back and forth comically.

"Uh, Ino. Maybe you should calm down. He did leave with the second examiner, so that means he will probably arrive with her." Sasuke said as placating as possible. A sharp glare from the enraged girl was enough to keep him from trying to calm her again. Ino started to shake Naruto again as she started ranting about irresponsible brothers and possible disqualification.

The sound of rushing wind drew everyone's attention and they turned just in time to see both Jagaa and Anko appear in a swirl of leaves, both of them looking slightly flushed. Anko was tying her hair back into its normal pony tail as Jagaa was just finishing pulling his black hoodie back on and adjusting his sword on his back.

"I told you we were going to make us late, but you just had to have 'one more for the road' didn't you." Jagaa said reproachfully.

"Maa, it's no big deal. It's not like they could start without me." Anko waved her hand dismissively before a satisfied look lit her features. "Besides, it was worth it."

Jagaa gave her a smirk. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, but it would have been nice if you hadn't kept me up _all_ night. I am taking the Chuunin exam after all. I might need my energy."

"Oh, you'll be fine. I already know for a fact that you don't tire that easily."

By now most of the females in the area were sporting deep blushes, and some of the males with the more _active_ imaginations had gotten varying degrees of nosebleeds.

A little ways off to the side, Tenten had started viciously stabbing a tree with a kunai (the attacks growing more savage as the conversation between the Jagaa and Anko progressed) and was putting off such a dangerous aura of killing intent that both Lee and Neji had begun to slowly back away from her in fear.

"Well then, let's get this show on the road!" Anko yelled enthusiastically as she walked up the locked gates leading to the forest. Jagaa smiled at the plum haired woman's back before he started walking to his team.

"Well, do you have anything to say for yourself?" Ino said in a low, dangerous voice as she glared at her older brother figure. Naruto was on the ground in front of her with his eyes in little swirls after she finally stopped shaking him upon Jagaa's arrival.

"Yeah, it seems I was wrong. The position on page 96 of 'Icha Icha Paradise' _is_ physically possible." Jagaa said in a slightly dreamy voice.

Ino gaped at him for a second before a deep blush rose on her cheeks. "THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!" She screamed in embarrassment while Sasuke and Naruto laughed quietly at her reaction.

"I know." Jagaa said, grinning impudently at her.

"All right, maggots! Listen up!" Anko's shout cut in. "The forest you see behind me is known as the 'Forest of Death', and it is where you are going to be taking your second exam. Before we get started though, I need you all to fill out one of these consent forms."

"Why do we need to sign consent forms?" Sakura asked confusedly as the forms were handed out.

"From here on in people will die. So we need everyone's consent before you start. Otherwise I'd be held responsible." Anko started laughing good naturedly at that, which of course completely freaked out most of the genin present.

"Now, this next exam is a five day survival match. During this time, you'll be fighting over these." Anko held up two scrolls. One was white and had 'Heaven' written on it, the other was brown with the word 'Earth'. "Twenty six teams passed the first exam so thirteen of them will get the scroll of heaven, and the other half will get the scroll of earth. Your objective is to use any means in order to get the other scroll and then take the two scrolls to the tower in the middle of the forest. If you loose a team mate, you fail. If you open the scrolls before reaching the tower, you fail. If you fail to arrive at the tower with both scrolls within the five day time limit, you fail. Are there any questions?"

"Just to clarify, for the record." Jagaa spoke up. "When you say 'Any means necessary', that does mean we are allowed to use lethal force, right?"

Anko put on a huge smile. "Yep, that's why we passed out the consent forms."

Jagaa's answering grin was vicious.

"Now, since we have no more questions, go fill out your consent forms and then take them to the booth over there. Your team will be given its scroll then as well as being assigned your entrance gate. In one hour every team will start at the same time." Anko sighed before glancing through the assembled genin. "I have one last piece of advice for you. Don't die!"

The assembled genin all gave responses ranging from a confident nod to an audible gulp before breaking away in their respective teams.

As Team 7 broke away, Jagaa handed his already filled out consent form to Naruto. "Hand this in for me when you hand the rest of yours in. I need to take care of something."

"You're not going to do something perverted are you?" Ino asked accusingly.

"No, not this time." Jagaa said with a smile before walking away.

"I wonder what he needs to take care of." Sasuke mused out loud as Jagaa walked away.

X X X X X

"Okay, so which one of you is tailing my ass today?" Jagaa asked out loud when he had gotten behind some cover a good distance away from the other genin.

"That would be me." A voice came from behind him.

"Oh, Birdbrain. I haven't seen you since the incident with Mizuki." Jagaa said turning to the red haired man. "I was starting to think that you didn't like me anymore."

"I don't. The only reason I'm watching you today is because the rest of my team had other duties to take care of." The ANBU's voice was cool and calm as he spoke.

"Oh, so cold. I guess you don't want some potentially important information then."

This caught the red heads attention instantly seeing as Jagaa wasn't the type to label something as important lightly. "What have you got?" His voice shifted from cool to professional in an instant.

Jagaa's voice also became professional as he spoke. "Yakushi Kabuto, Genin of Konoha, or at least that what he appears to be. He has silver hair, round glasses, and wears a queer looking purple jumpsuit. He has some sort of ties to Otogakure and could be a spy. He has very detailed information on the participants ranging from their strengths and weaknesses, to their teammates and number of missions preformed."

"What makes you so sure he is tied to Otogakure?"

"He was giving the amount of participants on from each village and said that he didn't know much about Oto. That was the only time during the whole conversation that I caught a lie from him."

"You said that he appears to be a Konoha genin but you're not sure. Explain that."

"He wears a Konoha hitai-ate, but never said specifically what village he was from so I couldn't find out if he was lying or not. There is also the fact that if he is a domestic spy he could very well _be_ a Konoha nin. In which case he wouldn't be lying if he said he was. So there is no way for me to be certain."

The ANBU nodded. "Understood, I will relay your information to the Hokage. For now stay alert for anything that might confirm your suspicions."

"You got it. I'll head back to my team now. I'm pretty sure they have turned the consent forms in by now." Jagaa turned and started walking but the ANBU captain's voice stopped him.

"One last thing, Jagaa." Jagaa looked back at the eagle masked. "Neither my subordinates nor I will be allowed to follow you in this portion of the exam. So be careful, and good luck."

Jagaa's eyebrows rose slightly at the red headed ANBU's words before a slight smirk reached his lips. "Better be careful, Birdbrain. People might start to think I'm growing on you."

"No. I was asked by my subordinates to tell you that." The eagle masked man said in his normal cool tone.

Jagaa just laughed as he walked off, raising his hand in good bye.

Behind him the eagle masked ANBU stared after the retreating boy for a moment before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

X X X X X

"Well that didn't take long." Ino said sarcastically when Jagaa rejoined them.

"I told you I wasn't doing anything perverted. Now, what scroll did we get?"

"Heaven." Sasuke said throwing it to him. "We decided that you're gonna carry it."

"Works for me. I have no problems with being the target." Jagaa said with a grin. "Well, what do you say we go to our gate?"

X X X X X

It came without warning, a huge torrent of wind that ripped through the middle of their team sending all of them flying in different directions. When the wind finally died down, they all started moving back to where they were before the sudden storm. Ino and Sasuke were the first to arrive with Naruto following close behind.

"Are you both all right?" Naruto asked as soon as he saw them.

"We're fine." Sasuke said with Ino nodding in agreement. "Where's Jagaa?"

"I'm right here." Jagaa yelled as he came out of the bushes looking a little flustered. "Is everyone all right? I was worried after we all got separated."

Ino, Naruto, and Sasuke stared at Jagaa for a moment, before all three of them threw a kunai strait at him. Jagaa gasped in surprise and threw himself to the ground to dodge the attack.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jagaa yelled at the three of them.

"You obviously don't know our Nii-san very well." Ino said as she pulled out another kunai. "For starters, he would never get flustered by a little bit of wind."

"And second," Sasuke added, "If Jagaa has ever thrown him self on the ground like an idiot the way you just did, I'll go on a date with every fan girl I have." Sasuke shuddered at the thought.

"I see…" The Jagaa impersonator said sinisterly. A large cloud of smoke formed as the imposter dropped his henge to reveal a woman wearing a light grey robe tied at the waist by a strange purple rope in a bow shape and a kusa hitai-ate on her forehead. Little did they know that the Kusa nin who stood before them was none other than the legendary nuke nin, Orochimaru in disguise. "It seems that the three of you are more aware than I thought. I may enjoy this after all."

"Where's my brother you asshole!" Naruto growled at the Kusa nin.

Orochimaru's reply was a sickening smile as he licked his lips. "I think you have more important things to worry about right now. Don't you?"

X X X X X

A few miles away, Jagaa was prying himself off of the tree he had been embedded in from the force of the wind blast while shaking his head to clear his dizziness from the hundreds of spins he had done in the air. '_I swear, when I find __the motherfucker__ that just sent me on the speed tour of the forest I'm gonna pull their guts out an inch at a time, and make them watch!_'

As Jagaa finally managed to completely separate himself from the tree, heard the rustling of bushes and turned to see three strange genin wearing the same strange yellow jumpsuit, and some sort of aquatic breathing apparatus on their mouths. Their hitai-ate's identified them as being Ame genin, but Jagaa could really care less about details like that.

"Oh, it's one of the Konoha genin from that four man team." The one on the far right said.

"If I remember right, he is carrying the scroll for their team." The far left one added.

"So we have a chance to eliminate a team already." The middle and apparent leader said. "Lucky."

Jagaa felt his irritation fade slightly as he looked at the middle genin with a smirk. "You took the words right out of my mouth."

X X X X X

Ino, Naruto, and Sasuke nearly vomited when Orochimaru started pushing an earth scroll down his throat in a disgustingly slow manner, licking his lips when he finally finished. "Now, let's begin shall we." He brought his hand up and pulled down the bottom lid of his left eye. "This battle that puts our lives on the line."

Then there was pain. Naruto, Ino, and Sasuke felt their skin being ripped from their bodies, their hearts exploded, and Kunai lodged into their head before each of them fell into the eternal darkness of death.

As quickly as it had come, the sensations disappeared and all three found themselves still alive.

'_What was that?_' Sasuke thought frantically. '_A genjutsu? A desire to kill? I'm not sure. I've never felt anything like it. As soon as I looked into her eyes I was imprinted with an image of death._' Sasuke tried to move, but found his body would not respond. '_How is this happening? Not even Jagaa's bloodlust has an effect like this._' He stared in fright at the woman in front of him as he desperately tried to move his body.

"It seems that you already can't move." Orochimaru said in amusement. "Oh well, I'll just end it quickly then." With out another word he took out three kunai and threw them straight for the three genins hearts.

Sasuke watched as the kunai seemed to come at them in slow motion. There was nothing he could do. His body wouldn't move. He could only watch as the deadly knives continued on their path to claim their lives.

A blue blur suddenly appeared in front of Sasuke, and he heard the sound of steel striking steel. A feeling of relief mixed with shock filled Sasuke as he realized he was looking at the back of a blonde spiky head of hair.

"If you thought I would just stand back and let you kill my friends you're a bigger idiot then you look!" Naruto yelled at the Orochimaru as he placed his hands into a cross shaped seal. "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**!" Twenty Narutos appeared in the forest surrounding them, each one looking really pissed off.

"Get that bitch!" Naruto yelled to his clones, and with a loud battle cry they all attacked.

Orochimaru looked mildly impressed as Naruto's clones charged at her. Hopping back to avoid the rain of kunai sent at him, he pulled out a kunai of his own and charged into the blue and yellow mass. With a few quick slashes, five of them disappeared in a puff of smoke. Turning around he darted through again and took out six more. The remaining nine Naruto's surrounded him and prepared to rush him, when the he jumped into the air turning upside down and spinning as he threw a kunai into the head of each bunshin. With nine nearly simultaneous puffs of smoke, the remaining Narutos disappeared.

Turning back to the three Konoha genin, Orochimaru was slightly surprised to see that they were no longer there. '_I see. He used the Kage Bunshins as a distraction to cover his taking his teammates and running._' He mused before a giving a sinister smile. '_Brave enough to attack, but smart enough to run. I may indeed enjoy this some what after all._'

X X X X X

Ino and Sasuke sat panting heavily on a large tree limb as Naruto warily scanned the area, keeping watch for the Kusa nin they had just escaped from.

"What was that?" Ino asked in a fearful voice. "Not even Nii-san's killing intent has left me feeling like this."

"I don't know." Sasuke admitted shakily. "I felt as if I was put through hell before finally seeing my own death. When it was over, I couldn't move. It was as if my body was paralyzed."

"It was the same for me." Ino said and then looked at Naruto questioningly.

"Yeah, I saw it too." Naruto's voice dropped a little as he answered. A clear sign that something was bothering him.

"Naruto, why didn't it affect you?" Sasuke asked in a low voice as Ino looked on in apprehension.

Naruto's eyes were covered in shadow as he looked down and away from them, and when he spoke, his voice was low and distant. "What we saw…was nothing…compared to the some of the attacks I've_ lived_ through." Naruto raised his head and looked to the tree tops his eyes holding a faraway look filled with anger and pain.

Ino and Sasuke looked at Naruto in horror as they slowly realized the full implications of what Naruto had told them. "Naruto, how much has happened to you that you haven't told us?" Sasuke asked, even though he dreaded the answer.

That was when Naruto did something that put both Ino and Sasuke through a pain far worse than the one they had just been through.

His eyes squinted, his grin split his face, and his voice took on that high, obnoxious quality that he had always been so famous for in the past.

He had put on his mask.

"Don't worry about it, Sasuke, Ino. It's really not as bad as I made it out to be. I was just still caught up in the effects of the technique that woman used. That's all."

Sasuke felt his eyes start to water, but he furiously tried to hold back the tears that threatened to spill. Ino had no desire to even try as she flung herself on to Naruto, wrapping her arms around his neck and crying openly into his shoulder.

Naruto's grin faltered and his eyes opened as he looked at the girl who was holding him so fiercely. He felt his own eyes start to mist over and furiously closed them, clenching his fists as he fought back his own tears. He had promised himself long ago that he would never again cry over something that the villagers had done to him, and he would not go back on his word. That was his _nindo_, his way of the Ninja.

Naruto steeled his resolve and opened his eyes once again. Whispering a soft "Thank you" to Ino, he gently pushed the blonde girl away from him. "I think we need to keep moving, teme." Naruto said with a small smirk. "I don't think that bitch targeted us just to let us go like that, do you?"

Sasuke wiped his damp eyes before standing up and looking back at Naruto and giving a smirk of his own. "You know, for once you might be right, dobe."

As Ino wiped her eyes she couldn't help but smile when the two started their normal banter. Even as she marveled at the incredible inner strength that Naruto possessed. Shaking her head and focusing her determination she joined in.

"So, what do you think?" Ino asked. "Do we stand our ground and hope that Nii-san comes back in time to help us if she turns out to be more than we can handle? Or do we make a run for it and try to find Nii-san as and loose her at the same time?"

Sasuke closed his eyes and thought carefully. If they ran they might have a better chance since this woman was obviously more than she seemed, but at the same time if they started running blindly through the forest looking for Jagaa they stood a chance of going the wrong way, or even making things worse by running straight into a hostile team.

"I say we fight." Sasuke finally said at last. "Jagaa would most likely have an easier time finding us than we would of finding him. There is also the chance we could worsen the situation by running into other hostile teams and get trapped between the two."

"Besides that," Naruto added with a grin, "with how much Nii-san likes to fight he'll head straight towards the sound of one. So if we make a big enough racket, he'll be here in a flash in hopes of killing someone." Ino and Sasuke laughed at how true Naruto's words probably were.

"Well, then I guess it's decided." Sasuke said.

"Indeed. You're all quite the little tacticians, aren't you." A sinister female voice drifted down from above them.

Startled the three jumped to the branch of another tree and saw that the Kusa nin had been standing on the limb less than five meters above the one they had been on. Orochimaru looked at the three Konoha genin who had dropped into fighting stances and liked his lips hungrily. "Now, show me if your skills merit your choice." he said with his sinister grin.

Naruto, Ino, and Sasuke glared at the Orochimaru in defiance as they prepared to fight for their very lives, Naruto's locking with his.

"Let's get wild, bitch."

X X X X X

Several miles away Jagaa stood over the bodies of the three Ame nin as he looked at the scroll in his hand. "Another Heaven scroll, eh. Guess I wasn't all that lucky after all." He said looking at the severed head of the leader of the trio. "Oh well, that just means I took two teams out of the instead of one. Who knows, this could even prove useful."

Jagaa put the scroll in his weapons pouch and noticed that it was a bit of a tight fit. As he made a mental note to find a better way to carry scrolls, he was hit with a wave of unease that made him jerk his head to look the direction he had flown from.

'_I'm worried. Something doesn't feel right. I need to get back to them now._' With a quick sprint Jagaa leapt into the trees and started moving as fast as he could through the branches as his unease continued to plague him.

'_You three better be all right._'

X X X X X

Orochimaru watched idly as three Narutos charged at him. The first one jumped up and aimed a kick to his face as another slid low to try to take out his feet. The third one stayed back slightly with a kunai drawn as he waited for a chance to strike. Orochimaru ducked under the kick and slammed his elbow into the clones back even as he sidestepped the sliding clone and drove a fist into its face. As the two disappeared in a puff of smoke the third jumped forward thrusting the kunai for Orochimaru's heart but was quickly dispersed by kick to the chest.

Jumping back Orochimaru easily dodged the rain of kunai and shuriken that embedded themselves where he had been standing. Looking up he saw Sasuke coming down at him with a kunai in each hand. Aiming for the snake sannin's head Sasuke thrust a the kunai forward, but Orochimaru easily knocked the attack aside and punched Sasuke in the stomach sending him through the air to land gasping further down the tree limb.

The sound of scraping wood brought the snake sannin's attention behind him just in time to see Naruto launch off the trunk of the tree and throw a fist at his face. Grabbing the incoming arm, Orochimaru flipped Naruto in mid air and slammed him onto the tree limb. Orochimaru raised his leg as he prepared to stomp the boy in the chest but was forced to jump back as Ino shot at him from the side and made a slash for his neck with a kunai.

Taking the opportunity Ino had given him, Naruto jumped back to his feet and leapt to where Sasuke stood, soon being followed by Ino. The three genin were breathing hard as they looked at the smirking Kusa nin in front of them who didn't even look slightly winded.

"What do you think?" Sasuke asked his two blonde friends.

"I think we're getting our asses kicked." Naruto deadpanned. Naruto looked at his two teammates to get a feel for how worn out they were and noticed something that nearly made him fall off the tree. "WHY THE HELL HAVEN"T YOU ACTIVATED YOUR SHARINGAN?!"

Sasuke looked startled by the yell, but his expression quickly changed into a soft frown. Then he did something Naruto never thought he would see. He started scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

"I…kind of…forgot about it."

"NANI!!!!" The synchronized yell of Ino and Naruto was so loud that even the disguised Orochimaru had to cover his ears.

"Were getting our asses handed to us and you forget that you just _happen_ to have one of the strongest kekkei genkais in Konoha, and most of the ninja world!" Ino screamed.

"Well excuse me if getting my ass handed to me while I'm not _allowed_ to use my Sharingan has become a fairly regular occurrence for me! If you want to yell at someone, yell at Jagaa!"

"Whatever! Would you just activate the damn thing! I am fairly positive that this counts in the 'Last Resort' area Nii-san was talking about!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke nodded and closed his eyes. When he opened them his coal colored eyes had become blood red with two comma marks in each one. As he finished activating his bloodline Sasuke remembered something. "Hey, do the two of you remember that thing we talked about that we wanted to try on Jagaa, as well as that technique I have been working on that requires the sharingan? What if we combine them?"

Ino and Naruto frowned in thought before their faces lit up almost simultaneously. "Do you think it will work?" Ino asked.

"It's worth a shot." Naruto said. "So who takes point?"

"I'll take care of that." Sasuke responded instantly. "My Sharingan should give us he edge we need."

"Sounds good." Naruto said.

In his disguise as a female Kusa nin, Orochimaru watched the exchange of the three genin with interest. '_This is surprising. As the fight progresses these three seem to actually be calming down instead of getting anxious._' Orochimaru licked his lips eagerly as he looked at the three genin who had all gotten back into their fighting stances. '_What could they be planning, I wonder?_' He thought in amusement.

Sasuke charged forward, his sharingan blazing, knowing that Ino and Naruto would do take action when the time was right. Sasuke saw the Kusa nin throw a punch at his face that seemed to be moving much slower than before. Sasuke was surprised when instead of blocking the blow just in time like he had been doing, he nearly missed the block because his body reacted to quickly. '_Because I'm so used to fighting without my Sharingan, my reaction time is increased greatly when I do use it._' Sasuke threw a punch at the Kusa nins stomach and saw as her arm came down to block, mid way through the punch Sasuke changed his aim for the woman's chest. His fist was inches away from striking when the woman's other hand cut in and intercepted it.

'_Almost got a hit in._' Sasuke thought as he blocked the Kusa nin's counter kick.'_Jagaa was right, it is a better idea to use the sharingan as a last fall back instead of right off the bat. Now my abilities are increased by it, instead of being dependent on it._' Sasuke saw the woman's arm coming from his left in a hook and was about to guard when he felt the presence of his teammates directly behind him. '_It's about time._'

Orochimaru saw Sasuke almost overshoot the block when he struck at him and was slightly impressed, but when Sasuke had come within inches of landing a hit, he felt a small tingle of excitement building. '_To think that even with me fighting at this level the boy almost hit me, the Sharingan is truly amazing. Now I know I want him._' Orochimaru threw a right hook to get around Sasuke's guard, when he was surprised for the first time in the fight.

An arm covered in a blue long sleeve shot out from behind Sasuke and blocked Orochimaru's swing before grabbing his wrist. Sidestepping around from behind Sasuke, Naruto threw and elbow at the snake Sannin's ribs. Bringing his other arm across, Orochimaru blocked the strike just to see Ino also come from behind Sasuke opposite Naruto and aim a low kick at his knee. Orochimaru raised his leg and guarded with his shin, but was surprised again when Ino actually grabbed his leg instead of striking it. Before he could wonder what was happening Sasuke jumped up and flipped in the air as he aimed a heel for the top of the Sannin's head. Orochimaru brought the arm Naruto wasn't holding up and blocked the kick, just to have Sasuke flip himself upside down even as he grabbed the arm. At that moment three separate fists flew at his exposed body and it was then that Orochimaru realized the reason three out of four of his limbs had been trapped. The three fists connected, one in the face, one in the chest, and one in the stomach. The three genin let go of Orochimaru's limbs as the fists struck, allowing him to be pushed back by the combined force.

"Do it, Sasuke!" Naruto yelled.

"I'm on it! Get back!" Sasuke yelled back. As the other two jumped back Sasuke threw several shuriken that had ninja wire attached to them, one of which was in Sasuke's mouth. The shuriken passed the Kusa nin and went behind the tree, only to circle back around passing in front of her. The shuriken changed course again and went back behind the tree pulling the wires tight and trapping the Kusa nin against the trunk before embedding themselves into various branches and other trees to lock them down. As soon as they were in place Sasuke flashed through a few hand seals.

"**Katon: Ryuuka No Jutsu**!" Sasuke yelled. Ino and Naruto now knew why they were told to get back as Sasuke was engulfed a field of fire that shot down the wire in his mouth and crashed into the trapped Kusa nin. A loud scream erupted from the fire as it hit and when the fire finally went out, the Kusa stood motionless with her head bowed while still tied by the wire and there was a hole burnt through the tree were her head had been.

"Well I'll be damned, it worked." Naruto said as he whistled in amazement.

"I told you it would." Sasuke said while breathing heavily and releasing the Sharingan.

"The Sharingan is really something else to be able to control those shuriken like that." Ino said as she looked at the aftermath of the attack. "I don't think I'd want to be on the receiving end of that Katon Jutsu you used either."

"Kukuku, indeed, it was quite impressive."

All three genin were shocked to see the Kusa nin start walking forward and easily snap the wire that held her. They were even more shocked when she looked up and revealed that half her face had been melted away and that their was another one underneath with sinister golden snake-like eyes.

"To be able to use the sharingan that well at your age is quite impressive." The woman's voice changed into a dry hissing sort of tone and became unmistakably male. "However, I am disappointed, Sasuke-kun. Someone such as you should not have to rely on others in battle as you have been doing."

"Well who asked your opinion? You freaky cross dressing gecko eyed bastard!" Ino raged at Orochimaru.

The slightest trace of annoyance crossed Orochimaru's face before he rushed forward, winding around the branch like a snake, and coming up by Ino to deliver a fierce blow to her stomach. Ino lurched forward spitting up blood before the blow sent her off the branch and into another tree. Slamming hard into the trunk, Ino fell forward and started descending to the ground far below.

"INO!" Naruto shouted as he launched himself off the branch and catching Ino as she fell and landing on a branch below them. "Ino, are you all right? Hold on, Ino!" Ino was completely unresponsive and a trail of blood flowed freely from a cut under her hair line.

"You see, Sasuke? They really are weak. How will you ever become strong enough to kill Itachi if you depend upon the weak?" Orochimaru asked in a sadistically amused voice. "How can you ever be an avenger like this?"

"Who ever said I wanted to be an avenger anymore?" Sasuke asked in an angry voice as he reached for a kunai. Before he could pull one out he felt his body seize up and become immobile. '_A paralysis jutsu?_'

"Again, I am disappointed in you, Sasuke-kun. However, there might be hope for you yet. Once you have tasted the power I can give you." Orochimaru made a seal and his neck extended from his body and shot at Sasuke before he sank his teeth into the young Uchiha's neck. As he removed his teeth, a seal looking like three large comma marks appeared above it.

Sasuke screamed in pain as he fell to his knees, clutching his neck. It felt like a fire was coursing through his body and his neck was the fuel. His vision swam and he only barely registered a mop of blond hair landing in front of him before he lost consciousness.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled as he landed next to his friend and then turned to Orochimaru. "What did you do to him, you bastard?!"

"I just gave him a little present." Orochimaru said with an evil smile. "Should he survive, I think he may come to thank me, kukukuku."

Orochimaru watched in amusement as Naruto looked back at Sasuke and started shaking. '_It seems that the little boy has gotten angry._' His amusement turned into surprise when Naruto suddenly shot at him at an intense speed with his fist cocked. Orochimaru dodged out of the way letting Naruto's fist fly past him and connect with the trunk of the tree. A shower of wood and splinters filled the air and was followed by the top of the tree falling through braches and leaves to crash into the ground far below. As the sounds of devastation faded Naruto turned back to Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was surprised yet again when he saw that Naruto's features had changed. His golden hair was now coarse and wild, the whisker like lines on his cheeks had widened and darkened, his canines had extended, and his fingernails looked like claws. It was his red, slitted eyes though, that drew the snake Sannin's attention. '_Could this boy be…_'

"You son of a bitch!" Naruto growled in a guttural voice. "First you hurt Ino, then you do this to Sasuke! **I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!**" Naruto charged again and tried to ram his fist into Orochimaru's face, but was easily dodged by the older ninja.

"Kukuku, if you attack in rage like that it is very easy to avoid you." Orochimaru said in an amused tone as he watched Naruto rebound off a tree and come flying back at him. Dodging easily yet again, Orochimaru shot out his tongue and wrapped it around Naruto's ankle. With a powerful twist Orochimaru drug Naruto through the air and slammed him against the tree branch.

Naruto coughed up some blood but didn't have time to recover as he was picked up again and slammed into the tree's trunk. Pain wracked his body as he was yet again drug through the air and smashed into another part of the tree. Again and again the cycle of being ripped through the air and smashed into the dense wood of the trees repeated until Naruto finally lost consciousness.

Slowly lifting the boy up so that he dangled upside down in front of him, Orochimaru pulled down Naruto's shirt to expose the seal that bound the Kyuubi's soul. '_No doubt about it. This boy is the container of the Kyuubi. Perhaps I should give him a little present as well._' Pulling his hand down to his side Orochimaru's finger tips seemed to ignite with an eerie purple fire. "**Gogyo Fuui…**" Before He could finish Orochimaru dropped Naruto and jumped backwards to avoid the blade, wielded by what appeared to be a shadow, passed where his neck had been.

"Now, that's not very nice." Jagaa said in a calm tone, now standing between Naruto and the snake Sannin.

"How true, you interrupted my gift to Naruto-kun." Orochimaru answered with his sinisterly amused grin.

"Call it a brother's intuition, but I don't think that _gift_ of yours would have been much of one."

Orochimaru was slightly impressed with the calmness that the boy in front of him portrayed. "You don't seem to be all that upset that I have injured your teammates." Orochimaru said curiously.

Jagaa shrugged. "They took a gamble and lost, and I can already tell that I can't beat you. The fact that you dodged my slash is proof of that. Which really puts a damper in my plans to pull out your entrails an inch at a time in payment of that little ride through the forest you sent me on, by the way."

Orochimaru gave a slightly approvingly nod at Jagaa. "A normal genin you are not."

"You have no idea. Now, would you mind telling me exactly why you attacked my team? I already know you aren't after the scroll, since you blew the one who had it away. So why?"

"I want Sasuke-kun, and I have given him a gift that shall make him mine. Sasuke will seek me. He will seek me for power because he is an avenger." Orochimaru's confident smirk almost faltered when he saw the exact same smirk on Jagaa's face.

"That just shows that you don't know Sasuke very well."

For the briefest second, Orochimaru found himself doubting that his plan would work, but his confidence quickly returned when he reminded himself that despite his strange behavior Jagaa was still a Konoha nin. Their loyalty and confidence in the hearts of their friends would always blind them to the evil hidden away in someone's heart and instead make them see only the best in them. Just like his foolish sensei. "Kukuku, then I suppose time will reveal who is correct. I anxiously await that day." As he spoke Orochimaru slowly started sinking into the tree they stood on and disappeared.

Jagaa looked at the spot that Orochimaru sank into as he slowly tried to reign in the rage that he had been hiding under his cool composure. It had taken everything he had to hold his fury not to charge the creepy snake looking man for all the damage he had done to the three people he cared about. If he hadn't been able to see that it would be suicide, and that if he died there would be no one to take care of his injured teammates, he would have.

Jagaa looked to each one of his younger teammates as each one lay unconscious where they had fallen. '_I'm sorry. I didn't make it in time._'

X X X X X

It was almost an hour after dark before Jagaa finally found a solid looking tree with wide open roots at the base that could provide shelter. Going inside, he and the two shadow clones he had created each put down the unconscious figures they had been carrying. Once the two clones had set their charges down, each one nodded to Jagaa and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

With a sigh, Jagaa moved to the front of the opening in the roots and leaned against the side. '_So what should I do now?_' Jagaa asked himself as he looked back at his unconscious teammates. '_The best thing to do would be to get them to the tower, but to do that I need an earth scroll. To get an earth scroll I have to go hunting for a team that has one, but then I would have to leave the three of them alone. Then there's the small fact that even if they were awake right now, they are all to injured to put up much of a fight if someone attacks them again. So leaving them alone is completely out of the question whether they're asleep or awake._' Jagaa sighed irritably as he thought about the snake like man that had done this to them. That man had definitely earned himself a spot at the top of Jagaa's 'People I Need to Kill' list. '_But first I need to find out who he is._'

A rustling of leaves made Jagaa's hand snap to his shuriken pouch as he turned to the source, and for the first time in his life Jagaa felt that maybe Kami was on his side for once as a panting Hinata jumped out of the bushes.

"Jagaa-san, are Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun, and Ino-chan all right?"

Jagaa was surprised that she had already known that his team had suffered damage, but he was even more surprised that the shy Hyuuga girl hadn't stuttered even once. In fact, her voice was almost demanding. He would avoid voicing that last part though.

"How did you know they were hurt?"

The young Hyuuga girl's shyness seemed to return somewhat as she answered. "I-I was scouting the area around my team w-when I saw three of _you_," She emphasized 'you' by nervously pointing at Jagaa, "jumping through the trees with one of them on each of your backs. I ran after you to see if I could help b-but you were to fast. I-I was only able to follow you b-by using the 'Byakugan'."

"Well, thanks for coming to help, but where's your team at?"

Jagaa almost laughed when he saw Hinata's eyes widen in the realization that she had just ditched her own teammates. Fortunately, as if on cue, both Kiba and Shino leapt down next to the horrified girl just as it happened.

"What the hell, Hinata?" Kiba said angrily. "You just up and took off without a word to us and made us spend the last twenty minutes chasing you. What the hell are you doing here anyway?" Kiba felt a tap on his shoulder and looked back to see Shino staring at something off to the side. Following his gaze Kiba saw Jagaa standing in the front of the root cave. "Huh, why the hell is he here?" Just then he noticed what was lying on the ground behind Jagaa. "Holy shit! What the hell happened to those three?!"

"We ran into some trouble early on. Someone separated me from them and attacked them while I was busy dealing with a team that I landed by." Jagaa answered. As he finished his short explanation, he was suddenly hit with a great idea. "Say, what scroll do you guy's need?"

Kiba instantly went on the defensive and Shino seemed to tense up slightly. "What's it to you?" Kiba growled.

"I want to make a deal."

Even Shino showed his surprise by the slight raising of his eyebrows at Jagaa's answer. "Explain." He said shortly in his monotone voice.

"A payment for a service." Jagaa said seriously. "If you three guard these three tonight for me, I will get you whichever scroll you need. In fact, if you need the Heaven scroll, I already have a spare on hand."

Kiba and Shino exchanged an unsure look as they considered Jagaa's offer, before looking to Hinata and seeing an almost pleading look in her eye. They looked back to each other again for a little while longer before Shino finally gave a slight shrug. Kiba nodded and turned back to Jagaa. "All right, you got a deal."

In a blur of movement Hinata was inside the root cave and had produced three cloths and started to wipe the sweat off of each of the unconscious team 7 members. Jagaa was rather impressed at how kind and caring the Hyuuga girl was, but also slightly saddened by it. '_She reminds me of Tsuki._'

Shaking his head to clear away the depression that was trying to find its way into his heart, Jagaa smiled slightly at the shy girl before turning back around and walking to Kiba and Shino. "All right, I'm taking off. What scroll do you need?"

"We're in the same boat as you. We need an earth scroll." Kiba said before dropping his voice to a whisper. "Look, we only agreed to this because Hinata really seemed to want to stay here, so you better deliver."

"Don't worry, dog breath. I'll have each of us a scroll by morning." Jagaa turned and looked back at the three unconscious forms, his voice becoming soft and protective. "Just take care of them for me."

Kiba's features softened as he heard Jagaa's voice change and nodded understandingly. "You got it."

Without another word, Jagaa leapt into the trees and disappeared into the darkness.

X X X X X

"We're being watched." Shino said quietly to Kiba after an hour or so.

"Yeah, I caught their scent a minute ago. They don't seem to be moving, just watching." Kiba said lowly back. "What do you think?"

"As long as they do not attack, we shall not. It would be ill advised to enter into combat without definite proof of hostile intent."

Kiba grunted his agreement and looked back at Hinata, who was still tirelessly taking care of the three injured people. Both he and Shino had known about Hinata's crush on Naruto for a while now, so he was more than a little surprised when he realized that it wasn't Naruto that Hinata seemed to worry over the most, it was Sasuke.

It wasn't obvious. She didn't hover over him, or ignore the other two in favor of taking care of him, but it was there. It showed in the way her eyes would glance over at him a bit more than the other's, or how when she wiped his brow her touch seemed slightly gentler. Kiba wasn't sure exactly what had happened between the two that had brought about this change, but strangely, he wasn't displeased about it. '_This could be good for her._'

Sound of snapping branches brought Kiba out of his thoughts as and Shino faced the direction of the noise and prepared for a fight. To say they were surprised would be a bit of an understatement as a familiar pink head of hair burst out of the bushes yelling, "Sasuke-kun!"

Without even glancing at the Kiba or Shino, Sakura rushed into the root cave and dropped to her knees next to Sasuke, picking up his hand and stroking the back of it. "Sasuke-kun, are you ok? Please speak to me!" Hinata looked more than a little confused at the pink haired girl's sudden appearance.

"Tch, so troublesome." A lazy voice came from the same place Sakura had just burst out from. A moment later both Shikamaru and Chouji made their own appearance on the scene.

"What the hell are you three doing here?" Kiba asked in rather annoyed voice.

Shikamaru scratched his head and sighed. "Jagaa dropped in on us about half an hour ago and asked us if we wanted to earn the scroll we need in exchange for helping your team look after his injured teammates. It's troublesome to play body guard, but it's worth it for a free scroll."

In the woods about fifty meters back, the three Oto nin heard what Shikamaru said and swore to themselves. They had been given a mission to kill Sasuke, but with so many other genin guarding him it would be difficult if not impossible to do it now. Nodding to each other they slowly slipped away even as Kiba's voice picked up again.

"Tch, so he doesn't trust us to be able to handle it ourselves, huh?" Kiba growled.

"When surrounded by hostile forces, it is better to have numbers on your side." Shino said calmly. "It serves as a deterrent to those who might seek to do harm." Shino finished with a slight nod of his head to the bushes and Kiba immediately got the hint. Taking a quick sniff of the air he realized what Shino was saying.

'_The guy's that were watching us are gone._' Kiba thought to himself before responding. "So in other words, he just wants his teammates as protected as he can manage while he isn't around. I guess I can understand that."

Shikamaru listened to the two of them before he looked back to where Naruto, Sasuke, and Ino lay. He wasn't surprised to see that Sakura had not moved an inch from Sasuke's side and was still cradling his hand in her lap. What did surprise him was the rather, _irritated_ looks that Hinata was sending at the pink haired girl.

The smallest of smirks made its way to the lazy genin's face, and he wondered if Jagaa may have had an _extra_ reason for picking his team in particular.

X X X X X

Morning finally came for the six genin guarding the three unconscious ones. During the night they had made a sleep rotation with one person on watch and one person taking care of the three injured. Sakura had been more than a little pissed off when she had been forced to stand guard while Chouji looked after Naruto, Ino, and Sasuke. There wasn't much she could do though, since the other five had stated in no uncertain terms that they didn't want someone who would only obsess over Sasuke and ignore the other two watching them.

Of course what Sakura wasn't aware of was the fact that when she had volunteered to 'Look after _her_ Sasuke-kun", she had been the only one who had not seen Hinata's Byakugan activate unconsciously. The boys quickly decided that it would be best not to let Sakura do any nursing at that point.

Now that the sun had risen, all of the genin were awake and alert as the waited for Jagaa to return.

"You don't think something happened to him do you?" Chouji said as he rubbed his stomach. Having already run out of chips, he really wanted some food right about now.

"It would be troublesome if something did. Then we wouldn't get our free scroll." Shikamaru sighed.

"Now, now, no need to go declaring me dead or anything. I'm here." Jagaa said as he dropped from the trees holding a cloth sack. "How are they?"

"Ino and Naruto seem to be doing fine, but Sasuke's still seems feverish." Kiba said looking back at the three and then turning back to Jagaa. "Your certainly took your sweet time getting back though."

"The teams were more spread out than I thought. I ended up almost at the tower while looking for them last night. On the upside, I have gotten pretty familiar with the forest around here, and can get us all to the tower easily."

"Us?"

Jagaa tossed Kiba an Earth scroll while smirking a bit. "Well now that you have your scroll, you don't need to stay out here anymore, right? Instead of splitting up and running risk of having our scrolls stolen, what do you say we accompany each other to the tower? Strength in numbers and all that jazz."

"He has a point." Shikamaru said as he caught the Heaven scroll Jagaa tossed him. "Since we all have the scrolls we need there would be no point in us fighting each other, and having such a large force moving together would scare off any troublesome people."

"Yeah, but what if later someone decides they would rather eliminate some competition?" Kiba growled.

"That part's already taken care of." Jagaa said drawing everyone's attention.

"What do you mean?" Kiba voiced for the rest of them.

"Well, on top of yours and my teams Earth scroll, and his teams Heaven scroll we needed. I also managed to get three more Earth scrolls and two more Heaven scrolls." Jagaa said lifting up the bag he was carrying. "So that's five teams out of the way for sure."

"HOW IN THE NAME OF KAMI DID YOU MANAGE TO GET EIGHT SCROLLS IN ONE NIGHT!!!" Kiba screamed at Jagaa. Everyone else was just looking at him dumbly.

Jagaa smirked and put a finger to his lips. "That's a secret."

Kiba stared at the older boy in disbelief before walking away, cussing up a storm.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru said in his normal lazy tone.

"Who the hell is yelling?" A groggy sounding voice came from the root cave. Everyone turned to see a very drowsy looking Naruto sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"N-Naruto-kun, you're awake." Hinata said in surprise.

"What happened? Where am I?" Naruto said shaking his head, his eyes suddenly widened and he looked around wildly. "Ino and Sasuke, where are they? Are they ok?"

"N-Naruto-kun." Hinata said managing to get his attention. "S-Sasuke-kun and Ino-chan are r-right here. Ino-chan s-seems to be ok, but is still a-asleep. Sasuke-Kun i-is running a fever and h-has bees since l-last night."

Some time during the course of Hinata's explanation, Naruto had moved between Sasuke and Ino and started doing his own checkup, though it was fairly clear that he wasn't sure exactly what he was doing. It looked more like he was mimicking things he had seen other people do, but his concern was clearly evident, so no one said anything.

"Naruto," Jagaa said to get the worried blondes attention. "We'll be heading for the tower soon so that we can get Ino and Sasuke some medical attention, and Hinata already told you that over all they seem to be fine, so don't…Okay, scratch that, maybe we should worry."

No one needed to be told what he was talking about, because at that moment a sinister purple aura incased Sasuke, spiraling like a vortex around his body. Slowly he stood up, and black flame like markings could be seen covering the left half of his face, his left arm, and his left leg. His Sharingan had been activated, yet his eyes seemed devoid of consciousness. As if he was some kind of mindless drone.

"Where is Itachi?" Sasuke's voice was as hollow as his eyes. His gaze searched through the genin in front of him one by one until his eyes came to rest on Jagaa. "Tell me where Itachi is, or I will kill you." The sinister aura around Sasuke intensified. Naruto quickly picked up Ino and jumped away as everyone else got into various stances as the prepared for the assault the zombielike Sasuke could launch. The only one who made no visible movement was Jagaa.

Sasuke stared at the group of people in front of him and irritation started to show itself on his emotionless face. Somehow they looked vaguely familiar, but he didn't know why. The only thing he knew was that they were blocking his path to killing Itachi, and for that they would pay. "If you won't tell me, then you will all die." Sasuke said in his flat tone and moved into his taijutsu stance. He would kill all who stood in his way to killing Itachi and nothing would stop him from obtaining his revenge.

"S-Sasuke-Kun."

'_That voice._' Sasuke turned to his side and saw a girl with short, blue-black hair, and pale, pupil less lavender eyes. Her hands arms had been brought up in front of her chest and one hand was slightly covering her mouth. Her lavender eyes were filled with fear at the evil essence that swirled around him menacingly. Sasuke couldn't explain it, but it hurt him to see her afraid of him. '_This girl__…I…know her._' Slowly the fog in his mind started to dissipate and his desire to kill Itachi began fading away as he focused solely on the girl in front of him. "Hinata?"

As if her name itself was the off switch, the evil aura surrounding Sasuke faded away to nothing and the black, flame like markings retreated from his skin. Falling to his knees, Sasuke gasped for air. He felt a soft touch on his back and looked over to see Hinata kneeling down next to him, the fear in her eyes being replaced with worry. Sasuke was glad that she wasn't looking at him in fear anymore. Seeing that look in her eyes because of him was almost more than he could bear. "What happened?" He finally asked.

"We were hoping you could tell us." Jagaa said as he walked over to the kneeling Uchiha.

"I…I don't know." Sasuke admitted and looked back to the ground. "I could see you all, but I couldn't recognize you. All I knew, was that I had to kill Itachi. It was like I was back to being how I was before I met you."

"Well, it's good to see that you're back to normal, teme." Naruto said as he walked up to them, now carrying Ino piggy back style. He had a small smirk on his face as he looked down at Sasuke.

Sasuke smirked back. "It's good to be back, dobe."

"You know, you should really thank Hinata." Jagaa said. "When she saw you were hurt, she actually chased after me to see if she could help, and was also the one who did the most in taking care of you." Jagaa looked at Hinata with a smile as the girl turned deep red.

Sasuke smiled softly at the Hyuuga girl. "Arigato, Hinata." Hinata smiled shyly back even as she turned a deeper shade of red.

"Sasuke-Kun!" There was a blur of pink and Sakura arrived right next to Sasuke. "I helped take care of you too." She said in a cutesy voice.

Sasuke looked at Sakura in surprise at her sudden arrival. "Oh…um…well then, arigato, uh…your name is Sakura, right?"

Several things happened at once. Sakura took on a look of pure horror, Naruto, Kiba, and Chouji started snickering audibly, Shikamaru smirked, Jagaa outright laughed, Hinata looked down with a small smile, Shino stood stoically, and Sasuke was doing a great impression of Naruto as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

When the group finished there bit of laughing, (Or in Sakura's case, recovered from her mortification) Jagaa spoke up. "We should get going." Everyone nodded and with Ino on Naruto's back the group leapt into the trees.

X X X X X

The sensation of moving was what Ino woke up to. Slight jerks followed by the sensation of flying before another jerk would cut the sensation off for a split second before it returned. The next thing she noticed was that she was being carried by someone. She wasn't sure if she should be worried or not since she didn't know who it was that was carrying her, so she left her eyes closed and pretended to still be asleep as she waited for any clues that might tell her who she was with.

She didn't have to wait long before she felt a familiar chakra signature and heard Chouji's voice. "Hey, Naruto, do you want me to carry Ino for a while? You've been carrying her since we started and were only about halfway there."

"Arigato, Chouji, but I'm fine. Ino isn't heavy." Ino felt herself start blushing at the compliment Naruto had unknowingly given her.

"Ok, but if you need a break, let me know." Chouji said before jumping away.

Ino kept her eyes closed as she felt Naruto leap from another branch. She knew that she should probably tell them that she had woken up and could move on her own, but she decided against it. She would hate to make them all stop so that Naruto could put her down since they might be in a hurry. Her hesitance to reveal she was awake had nothing to do with the fact she was enjoying the feel of Naruto's hands supporting her thighs or the warmth of his back as she lay against it, nothing at all. She was just being courteous, that's all.

Now, as long as Jagaa wasn't around if she had to explain, she might even get them to believe it.

X X X X X

"That _really_ hurt." Sasuke said as he came walking back in rubbing his neck.

It had been three days since teams 7, 8, and 10 had shown gotten to the tower. Ino had woken just as they arrived (Jagaa had smirked and looked away when she told them that) and assured everyone that she was fine as well as thanked them for taking care of her. It was only today though, that Sasuke was finally able to have the mark on his neck looked at by Kakashi, who immediately told him that he would need to have it sealed. That had been about two hours ago. Now the rest of team 7 was sitting in a common room talking with teams 8 and 10.

"I warned you it would. I'm surprised that you didn't pass out from the pain. Most people would have you know." Kakashi said as he smiled behind his mask as he read his little orange book.

"Getting this seal didn't hurt nearly as much as the other one did. Besides, most people haven't been put through one of Jagaa's 'Hell Weeks'. You'd be surprised how much you can take after that."

"Hell week?" Kiba asked curiously.

"You don't want to know." Sasuke said with a shudder.

Jagaa laughed as he tossed his bag of extra scrolls into the air before catching it and tossing it up again. Kakashi looked at Jagaa in slight confusion. "What are you doing?"

"Waiting for Naruto to come back and tell me what they want me to do with these extra scrolls I have." Jagaa said before tossing them in the air again. "I don't know if I'm supposed to give them back or not and Naruto went to find out for me." Once again he caught the bag, but this time he just put it on the floor beside his chair.

Kakashi was about to say something when the doors to the common room flew open and a very disheveled looking team Gai walked in to the common room. Without a word to anyone, the three of them flopped onto one of the couches and lay as motionless as the dead.

"Damn!" Kiba whistled as he looked over the three exhausted genin. "What happened to you three?"

"An unknown youthful individual has made things quite hectic for the remaining participants of the exam!" Lee said in a tired, but somehow still exuberant voice. "They have stolen a great many scrolls and now it is much more difficult to get a complete set."

"DIFFICULT!" Tenten screamed. "We got caught up in an eight team free for all for our set of scrolls because of that bastard! Three of them being teams that had their scrolls stolen by this guy on the first night!"

"As I said before, Tenten." Neji said. "One person stealing a few scrolls didn't make as big a difference as you think. You are overreacting."

"I don't care! When I find out who it was I swear I'm going to castrate the bastard." Tenten screamed making even the stoic Hyuuga flinch back.

'_I knew I should have just killed all those teams off._' Jagaa thought frantically as he slowly tried to push his bag of scrolls under his chair and praying to Kami that the pissed of weapons specialist wouldn't notice. He almost succeeded to, until...

"Hey, Nii-san." Naruto said as he walked through the door. "I was told by one of the Chuunin that they'll come by later to get those extra five scrolls you have. They said to just wait here."

'_Naruto, your timing fucking sucks!_'

The room became deathly quiet and the temperature seemed to drop to several degrees causing even Naruto to take notice as he stopped dead in his tracks.

Agonizingly slowly, Tenten turned her head and looked at Jagaa. (who by now was sweating bullets).

"_**You**_"

"Um…heh,heh…Hi, Mousey." Jagaa said nervously. He instantly regretted it when Tenten's killing intent spiked to ungodly levels, and if there was only one thing Jagaa feared, it was a pissed off female.

"Bye Mousey."

Jagaa shot from his chair and bolted out the door as several kunai destroyed the chair he had been sitting in. With a roar like battle cry, Tenten chased after him throwing every weapon she could get her hands on in her attempt to murder the fleeing boy.

"They make a cute couple." Kakashi said with a smile as he continued to read his book.

**A/N:** Well there you have it. To be honest, I'm not sure if the chap came out very well. The end especially since I was half asleep when I wrote it. I couldn't think of a better way to end it though. I hope it was enjoyable at least. Feel free to leave reviews. I may not require them to continue the story, but it's always nice to get peoples opinions. Ja ne.


	14. The Preliminaries, part 1

**A/N:** (Streamers fly through the air, champagne is popped open, and balloons fill the room)

Hey people, guess what! Over the time it was taking me to finally get this chapter written, something happened that I honestly never thought would. Well at least not for a long time yet. My first story ever actually reached 100 reviews. YAY!!! I want to give a special shout out **HeartlessAros**, who was my 100th review thank you for making my day. Also, I want to give a special thanks to **CommGonn** who just barely missed being the 100th, but still holds the honor of being the first person to take me past 100. I wish I could give shout outs to each and everyone of you that has reviewed my story and made this possible as well, but it would take me a long time to find all your names and make sure I didn't miss anyone, and I've kinda taken to long to get this chap done as is.

Just know that you are all appreciated and definitely not forgotten. You all ROCK!

Currently Me, Kyuubi, and Jagaa are having a party to celebrate. Both of them are ridiculously drunk right now and are trying to decide who is stronger with an arm wrestling competition. Have you all ever seen a fox trying to arm wrestle? It's one of the funniest things I've seen ever seen. The best part is he's to drunk to figure out why he's loosing. Any way, I hope you all like the chapter.

**Disclaimer:** Sorry, I am still trying to get the rights to Naruto, but haven't managed yet. So I still don't own him or any other Naruto characters. (It's just not fair damn it)

**Chapter 14:** The Preliminaries, Part 1

Apart from teams 7,8, and 10, to have made it to the tower, there was also team Suna, (who had actually beaten the other three there) Team Gai (Who's female member had been throwing Kunai at Jagaa every chance she got for the last two days). Kabuto's team (Who Jagaa was watching like a hawk) and the Oto team had arrived just a little while ago and were looking a little worse for the wear, but still ready to go.

Now the twenty two genin stood in a massive room in formation directly in front of the Hokage. The old man himself was flanked on either side by four Konoha Jounin, one being the second examiner, Anko (Though she seemed rather somber compared to when they had first seen her, that still hadn't stopped her from waving energetically at Jagaa when he came in.) Behind the Hokage, the Jounin sensei of the passing teams stood in line facing their students, little did they know that Orochimaru stood amongst them in the guise of an Oto Jounin. Behind the Jounin senseis was a huge statue shaped like two hands in the 'Ram' hand seal.

"Hey, Fuzzy Brows." Naruto said while poking Lee in the back. "Is Super Fuzzy Brows up there your sensei?" Naruto asked pointing at a Jounin who was sporting the same bowl style haircut, green spandex, and extremely large eyebrows. The only thing really different about them was the missing Jounin vest from Lee's wardrobe.

"Hai, Gai-Sensei, who's youth burns brighter than the sun, is indeed my sensei!" Lee said so intensely that those around started edging away ever so slightly.

Jagaa, who had heard the short exchange, looked from Gai to Lee a couple times in amazement. '_Dear Kami, there's two of them._' He shook his head a little and looked over at Tenten, who also seemed to be listening to Naruto and Lee. Seeing Jagaa's face turn her way, Tenten shot him a glare, but that glare faded away to confusion as she saw the small perverted smile that came to his face. "What?" She asked, and almost instantly regretted that she did.

"Well," Jagaa said while still smiling, "Since you and Lee are on the same team, I just imagined you in some very, _formfitting_ green spandex. For good measure, I took out the midsection so that your stomach was exposed. The result…well let's just say, I know what I'm getting you for your birthday." Jagaa's small smile had become a full blown grin by the time he had finished.

Tenten's face started to flush so deep that Jagaa started watching for the rupturing of blood vessels. However, when he saw her hand moving for her Kunai holster, he decided he had better distract her, and fast.

"Hey now, you can't kill me here. The Hokage is watching. You wouldn't want to ruin your chances at becoming a Chuunin by murdering a fellow leaf nin right in front of him, would you?" Jagaa said quickly even though his voice shook slightly from nervousness. He was relieved when he saw her hand stop moving towards the kunai holster, but that relief turned into apprehension when he noticed it wasn't moving away from it either. He was even more afraid when he saw that the look in her eyes showed clearly that she was seriously debating the matter inside her mind.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity to the profusely sweating Jagaa, Tenten's hand finally moved clear of her weapons. Though, the look in her eye was promising him a great deal of pain as soon as the opportunity presented itself, before she finally turned back to face the front of the room.

Jagaa let out a sigh of relief even as he heard his teammates start laughing quietly at him. "She finally stops throwing Kunai at you every time she sees you, and you go and piss her off again." Sasuke said before laughing again.

"I know," Jagaa said ruefully, "Damn my overactive imagination."

Any further conversation was cut off by the sound of the Hokage clearing his throat.

"Before we begin the third exam, I think it's time you all know the true purpose of the Chuunin exams." The Hokage said as he looked at each of them in turn. "This exam is the replacement for war in the hidden villages. A way to save lives and limit the loss of military power amongst the nations." The Hokage was explaining dramatically. "In the next exam you will be placing your lives on the line for the pride of your village." Gasps and murmurs filled the room as the assembled Genin processed what they had just been told. Only two could be seen that seemed indifferent to the news they had heard. One was Jagaa, who displayed his lack of concern with an audible yawn, and the other was Gaara, who decided to voice his own indifference.

"I don't care." Gaara said impatiently to the old man. "Just explain the details of the third exam."

"Very well." The Hokage said and looked pointedly at a spot in front of him. A second later, a sickly looking Jounin appeared in front of him, coughing.

"Please allow me, Gekkou Hayate, the judge of this portion of the exam, to explain. " The now identified Jounin said to the Hokage, who nodded his approval. Hayate turned to the assembled Genin while coughing. "Every one, there is something we need to do before we start the third exam." Hayate started coughing again before continuing. "We will be having a preliminary bought to see who will advance to the third exams main battle."

"Hold on a minute!" Shikamaru yelled, for once not seeming lazy in the least. "What do you mean preliminaries? Why can't we start the third exam with those that are left?"

"I don't know if it is because the first and second exam were too easy or what, but we have too many participants."

'_I wonder if I should tell him I was passing out scrolls like candy?_' Jagaa thought idly as the coughing Jounin continued.

"According to regulations, we have to reduce the number of participants." Hayate said through his coughs. "Then there is the fact that there will be a fair amount of rather important people at the finals, so we can't have too many battles." Hayate looked around, giving them time to assimilate what he was saying before pointing to an electronic board on the wall. "The preliminary bouts will begin immediately. The matches will be randomly chosen by the board behind me. That being said, is there anyone who would like to quit now?" He was a little surprised when no one in the room raised their hand, but continued on. "Well, in that case, we will choose the first two fighters."

The board started cycling through names as everyone watched. When it finally came to a stop, there was an audible gasp.

_Yakushi Kabuto Vs Haruno Sakura_

Sakura (who had been the one to gasp) stood rooted to the spot. She couldn't believe that out of all the people present she had been one of the first people picked to fight. She could feel the anxiety starting to well up inside of her.

"Everyone besides the two combatants, please move up to the observation areas." Hayate said while pointing to the sides of the room, where two long balconies jutted out from the wall. Without comment the non-combatants, including the Jounin senseis, the Hokage, and the other observing Jounin.

Finally, the floor cleared. Leaving only Hayate, a very nervous Sakura, and a silently contemplating Kabuto.

Sakura was on the verge of panic as she looked at Kabuto who seemed to be sizing her up. She knew she wasn't ready to be a Chuunin. Hell, the only reason she had agreed to the exam was because she had heard that Sasuke would be taking it. Now that it had come to this, she knew she couldn't go any further. She had wanted to quit as soon as she heard they would be fighting, but since neither Sasuke (her crush) nor Ino (her rival) had quit, she decided not to either. However, at that time, she had been certain that there would be at least a few matches before hers. She could have used that time to try to build her confidence, or at least take comfort in seeing others lose before her. She no longer had either of those options.

'_I'm not ready for this. I can't beat Kabuto-san. Even if I wasn't already weak, he has loads more experience than me. I have no chance, I know that, and from the way he's looking at me I think he knows it to. I should just give up. I'm sure Asuma-sensei will understand when I explain it to him._' Sakura steeled her resolve and slowly started to raise her hand.

"I give up."

An incredulous gasp ran through the room as everyone stared at the one who had just given up before anyone had even finished getting to their spots to watch.

However, no one was staring harder than a completely shocked Sakura. Her hand barely having moved before the older genin in front of her had declared his surrender. "W-w-what?" She stammered in disbelief. "Why?"

Kabuto shrugged his shoulders and smiled in defeat. "It seems luck was not on my side today. It is clear that you have been here for a while and are well rested. Where as I got in just before the time limit and have had no time to recover. My chakra is currently low, and I have not been able to hear out of my left ear since my run in with the Oto nin in the first exam and my balance is still slightly off because of it." Kabuto tilted his head to the side while still smiling warmly. "I had hoped I wouldn't have to fight for a while and use the time to at least recover some chakra, but like I said, luck was not on my side. So, since I am really in no condition to fight, I decided it would be best to quit now."

Sakura was still looking at Kabuto incredulously when Hayate finally spoke. "Since Yakushi Kabuto has forfeited, Haruno Sakura is the winner." Kabuto gave Sakura one finale smile before turning and walking back to the door that everyone had entered through, raising his hand in goodbye. It wasn't until Hayate told her that she needed to clear the area so they could start the next match that Sakura moved mechanically to stand with the rest of her team.

On the balcony, Jagaa had his eyes glued to Kabuto as the genin explained his reasons for quitting. Feeling a presence behind him Jagaa forced himself not to reach for his sword since he knew who it was.

"Well?" Kitten asked him in a low voice. Jagaa didn't need to ask what she was talking about.

"Through his teeth." Jagaa responded just as low. He was fairly certain that she had nodded before silently disappearing. Taking a quick glance around, Jagaa wondered if anyone had seen the exchange, since nobody seemed to be looking at him. Focusing back on Kabuto, Jagaa noticed the silver haired Genin's eyes flick up to someone on the other balcony. Following his eyes as best he could, Jagaa only saw one team in that immediate vicinity.

'_Oto, huh. Well I guess that confirms that._' Jagaa's eyes lingered on the Jounin sensei of the Oto team. '_That guy looks kind of familiar. I wonder if it could be…Nah, I don't think he'd show up right under the old mans nose._' Jagaa shrugged of his hope that he had found the guy from the forest as wishful thinking and moved to join his team.

As he closed the distance he saw that Naruto was talking animatedly to very beautiful brown haired woman with blood red eyes, wearing what looked like a dress made of red and white bandages. Jagaa knew who she was as well as what they were talking about. Walking up he casually raised his hand in greeting. "Hey Kurenai, how have you been?"

"Jagaa-san, it is nice to see you." She said in her normal cool tone. Jagaa didn't take offence since he knew that was how she spoke to practically every male to have hit puberty. Though she tended to be a bit more open with Naruto, but Naruto just had that type of effect on people. "Naruto has been telling me about some of the new plants he has added to his garden. I must say, I am looking forward to seeing how it has grown since the day you asked me to place the genjutsu on it."

"It has changed a lot. Right now we're working on moving it all to our new house." Jagaa said as he mentally wondered how Kurenai would react if she found out that genjutsu didn't work on him, seeing as it was her specialty. "It's actually good you're here, since I was going to visit you soon anyways."

"I suppose you would like another genjutsu on the new garden area." Kurenai asked and Jagaa nodded.

"Awesome!" Naruto said and pumped his fist into the air. "Can we make it a really big area this time? Since I'm gonna be able to plant in actual ground now, I want a lot of room to work with." Naruto looked so excited that neither Jagaa nor Kurenai could suppress their fond smiles.

"Uh, hate to disrupt the conversation." Kakashi said with a smile. "But don't you think you should support your teammate in his fight?"

Naruto and Jagaa's eyes shot to the board and gasped at the sight. _Uchiha Sasuke Vs Zaku Abumi_

Jagaa and Naruto were at the rail so fast that both Kakashi and Kurenai blinked in surprise. Now standing next to Ino they watched as Sasuke swaggered arrogantly up to Zaku.

Zaku was grinning as he took his place facing Sasuke. "Looks like I'm the lucky one today." Zaku said in a sneering tone. "We were going to take care of you in the forest of death, but that teammate of yours kept hiring people to guard you. Now, you don't have anyone to protect you."

"You talk as if you actually believe you can beat me." Sasuke said arrogantly. "You should stop disillusioning your self. I am an Uchiha. A lowly Oto nin like you could never…"

"BOO, BOO!"

"Get off the stage!"

"Somebody bring me some tomatoes to throw!"

"I want my money back!"

Everyone watching was treated to a very comical sight of Sasuke falling flat on his face before jumping up and glaring at the jeering Jagaa and Naruto, both who wore huge grins on their faces.

"Can't the two of you cut me some slack! I was putting on my best performance out there! I even SWAGGERED!" Sasuke shouted indignantly at the pair of grinning blondes.

"We're just looking out for you, Sasuke. We wouldn't want you to have some sort of relapse into your asshole days now would we?" Jagaa said consolingly.

"That's right, teme. I would hate to have to kick your ass because you tried to get all high and mighty on me." Naruto answered with his grin still in place. Next to him, Ino stood leaning over the rail as she tried to hold in her laughter at the three of them. Along the balcony, various degrees of smiles, laughs, and giggles showed that Ino wasn't the only one amused.

Sasuke sighed before turning back to Zaku with his own smile in place. "Isn't it great to have friends that care so much?" Sasuke said lightheartedly.

Zaku was in a state of stupor as he looked at the smiling Uchiha in front of him. This was just too much. An arrogant, self absorbed Uchiha he could handle. Hell, that's what he was expecting. A happy smiling and joking Uchiha was a different story. It was unnerving.

Hayate looked at both Genin before raising his hand. "You may (cough) begin."

Sasuke took his taijutsu stance and examined Zaku. "Whenever you're ready." He said with the smallest of smirks.

Zaku's previous astonishment quickly turned into anger when he noticed the amused gleam in Sasuke's eyes. It seemed that the Uchiha brat really didn't take him seriously, even if he wasn't being arrogant about it. Fuelled by his anger, Zaku brought both his arms forward to reveal two holes in the palm of each hand and aimed them at Sasuke. "**Zankuuha**" He yelled as a huge blast of wind burst from the holes in his hands and slammed into where Sasuke stood. Dirt and debris covered the area, showing the power of the blast. Zaku smirked as he watched the chunks of rock falling back to the ground.

There was an amazed whistle directly to Zaku's side, followed by a pressure on his right shoulder. "Wow! It's a good thing I wasn't hit by that. That might have stung a little. By the way, you shouldn't get so focused on a fixed point like that. It makes you miss what's happening around you." Sasuke said as he casually leaned his left elbow on Zaku's shoulders. Zaku's could only stand in frozen disbelief.

On the observing ledge Naruto and Ino were failing miserably to hold back their laughter at a highly affronted looking Jagaa. "That little copycat!" He said in an accusing, yet amused voice.

"Did I miss something?" Kakashi asked. On either side of them, the other Konoha Genins and their senseis were leaning in to find out why the three were reacting the way they were.

Ino was the first one to rein in her laughter enough to speak. "Nii-san did that exact same thing to Sasuke the first time Sasuke tried to use the 'Goukakyuu no Jutsu' on him in a spar."

"Same speech and everything." Naruto said after he finally got his own laughter in check. "I think Sasuke's reaction may have been a bit better though. "

Back on the battle ground, Zaku's deer in the headlights look was finally starting to fade into one of extreme rage. Throwing off Sasuke's arm Zaku swung his elbow back and tried to slam it into Sasuke's face. Sasuke casually ducked the strike and rammed his fist into Zaku's ribs.

Zaku reeled back but managed to throw a kick as he did. Sasuke jumped back to avoid the kick, but realized that was what Zaku had wanted when the boy aimed his palms at him. Sasuke quickly pulled out a kunai and threw it at the ground just as Zaku fired his Zankuuha. Pulling on the ninja wire that was attached to it, Sasuke managed to pull him self to the ground and out of the way of the attack just in time. Zaku was more than a little surprised by the move but quickly took aim again as Sasuke reached the ground.

As he landed Sasuke threw several shuriken before jumping out of the way as the predicted blast of air knocked them away. He threw a few kunai before cutting back across the way he came but still moving closer while Zaku again blasted the projectiles out of the air.

Zaku realized what Sasuke was doing. Every time he threw some shuriken or kunai he would use the time Zaku was getting rid of the weapons to move closer in a zigzag pattern. "You really think that will work?" He yelled and only used one of his arms to shoot down the incoming shuriken. "I can fire two ways at once you fool!" The words had barely left his mouth when he Sasuke split into ten copies of himself. '_Bunshin?_'

"Then what if there are more than two places to fire at?" All the Sasuke's said in unison as they threw shuriken at him from all sides.

"Shit!" Zaku yelled and started blasting air in all directions trying to find the real attack. He was rewarded with seeing one of the sets of projectiles being scattered when hit by his blast, but any triumph he may have felt disappeared as a fist impacted into his chest, with far more force than the first time. Coughing up blood, Zaku fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around his broken ribs.

"You should quit now. Your attack style is really easy to read." Sasuke said in an almost friendly tone. "Then there's also the fact that I'm already used to fighting someone stronger, and a hell of a lot more dangerous, than you."

Ino and Naruto looked accusingly at Jagaa, who started whistling innocently while looking at the roof.

From his knees, Zaku glared at Sasuke in hatred before ripping his arms away from his chest and pointing them at Sasuke. "DIE YOU BASTARD!"

Sasuke was instantly in between Zaku's arms and used his own to push them outward so that the blast was sent to the walls. With a quick shift of movement Sasuke grabbed Zaku's head and wrenched it forward at the same time bringing up his knee and plowing it into Zaku's unguarded face. Sasuke let go of Zaku's head a second before the blow connected and Zaku was sent through the air, landing hard on the concrete ten feet away. There he lay completely motionless with blood flowing from his nose and mouth.

'_I don't see the need __to go over and co__nfirm it._' Hayate thought before facing Sasuke and raising his hand. "Winner, Uchiha Sasuke." With one last look at the unconscious Zaku, Sasuke went to rejoin his team.

From his spot next to the rest of the Oto team, Orochimaru was gazing at Sasuke in barely hidden longing. '_After having fought __him myself I knew__ Zaku would be no match for him, but to win so easily without even using the Sharingan._' Orochimaru's eyes moved up to Jagaa. '_You have changed Sasuke-kun in interesting ways, but it will not be enough. Despite the fact he seems to be resisting the cursed seal, I will still have him. That fact will not change._' Orochimaru let a confident smirk come to his face as he watched Sasuke walk to his team.

"So how was it?" Jagaa asked when Sasuke joined them.

"Surprisingly easy." Sasuke said thoughtfully.

"There's nothing surprising about it! We're gonna kick ass!" Naruto yelled and pumped his fist in the air, making his team laugh as they agreed.

"S-Sasuke-kun." Hinata said from a few feet away.

"Hey, Hinata." Sasuke's voice brightened slightly as he looked at her, reconfirming his growing like for the girl.

"C-congratulations, o-on winning your match." Hinata said in her quiet voice.

Sasuke smiled softly at her. "Arigato, Hinata." He said affectionately. Hinata smiled shyly back at Sasuke with a small blush on her cheeks.

By now, Jagaa and Naruto had started elbowing each other and pointing at the pair while wearing knowing smirks until Ino smacked them both upside the head. This was followed by amused laughter of those around them as Jagaa and Naruto furiously rubbed their sore heads.

It was then that Jagaa noticed that something didn't seem quite right with the current situation. Glancing around as he rubbed his head, he tried to figure out what it was. He could see Sasuke and Hinata chatting happily with each other with Kiba, Shino, and Kurenai looking encouragingly at the pair from the side. Tenten and her team stood a bit off to the other side with Tenten and Neji both ignoring all of them for their own reasons as Gai and Lee were spouting something about flames of youth. It was when he got to the last team and saw Shikamaru standing uninterestedly next to Chouji that Jagaa realized what was wrong.

Sakura, instead of arguing with Ino, glaring at Hinata, or trying to jump all over Sasuke, was leaning against the wall and looking depressed. Jagaa was about to go over and talking to her to find out what was wrong but the sound of the electronic board drew his attention and he turned to see who would be fighting next.

_Tsurugi Misumi Vs Kankuro_

Kankuro and Misumi walked to the arena floor, confidence shining in both of their eyes. Once they had taken their places across from each other Misumi spoke. "I'll warn you now. Once my technique gets a hold of you, it's all over. If that happens, I suggest you give up."

Kankuro smirked and pulled the wrapped object from his back. "Don't worry about me. I intend to end the match quickly."

Hayate looked between the two and raised his hand. "You may begin."

As soon as the words had left Hayate's mouth, Misumi ran forward and threw a punch that Kankuro easily blocked. Kankuro started smirking at Misumi, but his smirk changed to surprise when Misumi's limbs started twisting around his body locking down his legs an arm and wrapping around his neck.

"I told you. It would be over once my technique caught you. In this position I can easily break your neck. Now hurry and give up." Misumi said as he slowly started tightening his grip.

"I don't think so." Kankuro said with a smirk.

"Do you want to die?" Misumi was getting irritated at the Suna nin's arrogance.

"Baka. You're the one who's going to die." Kankuro said confidently. That was the last straw for Misumi. With a quick jerk, a snapping sound was heard and Kankuro's head dangled freely on his neck.

"Hhn, it looks like I got carried away and broke his neck." Misumi said, he might have said more, but the sound of something flaking away cut him short. Kankuro's neck did a complete turn to face Misumi, and revealed half a wooden face hidden beneath Kankuro's.

"Now it's my turn." The figure said before ripping through the clothes it was wearing and wrapping long wooden arms around Misumi multiple times. Shock ran through the spectators as Misumi was now being crushed by some sort of wooden puppet.

The wrapped object that had until now lay untouched on the ground unwrapped itself to reveal the real Kankuro with a smirk firmly in place. Chakra strings coming off his fingertips to control the puppet which now had Misumi in a death grip.

"I…I give…"Misumi tried to surrender, but before he could finish, there was a sound of snapping bones and the man went limp in the puppets grip. Kankuro then cut off the chakra flow to the puppet making it fall on top of the unconscious man.

"The opponent is unable to fight. The winner is Kankuro." Hayate said before coughing.

On the ledges, general murmurs of amazement were running through the various genin.

"I can't believe that the real one was hiding in the wrappings the whole time." Ino said with a relieved sigh before glaring accusingly at Jagaa. "Why didn't you tell us that the one fighting was a fake?"

"I couldn't tell." Jagaa said with an indifferent shrug, before he sighed at the stupefied expressions that his entire team (Kakashi included) were giving him. Dropping his voice so that only his team members would hear he started explaining.

"Look, I'm not omnipotent you know. I can see through genjutsus because they are not really there in the first place. I guess in a way, my mind just sort of tunes them out. Things like wigs, makeup, hair dye, and other physical changes are as effective on me as they are on you. His puppet was dressed up and had something on its face that made it look just like him. Since there was actually something there, I couldn't see through it like I could if it was just an illusion. Do you understand?"

Kakashi seemed to get it, but the other three were looking at Jagaa like he speaking Swahili. Jagaa sighed again. "In other words, there are ways around my abilities just like anything else. Is that a little easier to understand?"

The three other genin nodded mutely. "Good, now let's see who is fighting next."

As if Jagaa's words were the on button, the electronic sign started blurring through names again, quickly displaying the next match.

_Dosu Kinuta Vs Nara Shikamaru_

"So it's my turn, huh, how troublesome." Shikamaru complained as he took his place.

Dosu gave Shikamaru a disinterested once over as he waited for the word to move. He had no doubts he could beat this lazy seeming boy with little effort.

Hayate gave his normal command to start the match. "You may begin."

Wasting no time, Dosu charged forward as he pulled up his sleeve to reveal his strange bracer. Cocking his fist back, he was about to deliver his sound powered strike when his body froze and he found himself completely unable to move. "W-what happened?" Dosu's eyes trailed down to the ground to see a shadow had attached itself to his own.

"Kage Mana no Jutsu, success." Shikamaru said with a smirk. "You really shouldn't have attacked that Kabuto guy before the first exam. You may as well have just put out flyers on how to beat you."

"What do you mean?" Dosu grated out as he struggled to free himself.

"First off, you showed that you are a direct combat type by charging in for a close quarters strike. So I knew I could easily trap you in my Kage Mana no Jutsu by waiting for you to charge me." Shikamaru said and straitened up. Dosu was shocked to feel and see his own body moving in perfect sync with Shikamaru's. "Second, every time you attack, you pull up your sleeve to reveal that bracer on your arm. That means that your attacks are dependent on it. So if you lose it…" Shikamaru left it hanging as he made Dosu remove the bracer from his arm and hold it in front of him.

"Now your attacks are useless. I suppose I could make you throw it away or break it and then fight you, but I just thought of a much easier way to win." Without another word, Shikamaru made Dosu repeatedly beat himself over the head with his own bracer.

"Naruto, have you been hanging out with Shikamaru?" Jagaa asked his brother suspiciously.

"No. Why?" Naruto answered confusedly.

"That just seems like something you would do." Jagaa said as he watched Dosu fall to the floor after being released from Shikamaru's jutsu.

"Winner, Nara Shikamaru." Hayate said as he coughed. "Let's move on to the next match." The board started flashing through names again.

_Tenten Vs Temari_

"Hell yeah! Cat fight!" Jagaa yelled before ducking the kunai Tenten threw at him. "You really need to work on your temper Mousey."

"I'll work on my temper when you stop calling me by that ridiculous nickname!" Tenten practically snarled at him as she walked by.

"Well if you don't calm down soon, you're gonna get your ass handed to you by the Hot Suna gir…whoa!" Jagaa (as well as anyone standing behind him) had to jump out of the way of yet another Kunai. Without looking back, Tenten marched down to the arena floor leaving a smirking Jagaa behind.

Waiting on the floor, Temari was doing her best to hide the small blush that had made its way to her face when Jagaa had called her the 'Hot Suna Girl', even if she was a little disappointed that it seemed like he had something going on with the bun haired girl in front of her. As soon as Tenten took her place in front of her, Temari put on a confident smirk. "Looks like you're having a little trouble with your boyfriend."

"There's no way in Hell that that lecherous, perverted, egotistical pain in the ass will _ever_ be my boyfriend!" Tenten grated out through clenched teeth.

"Excuse me, I am _not_ egotistical!"

Everyone else in the room sweat dropped at Jagaa's response. '_He's not even denying the rest of it._'

"Um (cough) if we could get the next match underway now." Hayate said slightly amused. "Tenten glared at Temari while the Suna girl smirked back. "(cough, cough)You may begin."

Tenten jumped back and started staring Temari down as she watched for Temari's attack. Temari didn't move as she smirked at Tenten. "You're waiting to see how I'll attack. I hate to tell you this, but you're not skilled enough to see it. If I attack now, it would be over in a second. So how about you stop trying to look good and attack."

"Well since you seem so eager, and since I have plenty of anger to burn right now, I won't hold back." Tenten said before jumping into the air and throwing several shuriken at Temari. With her smirk still in place, Temari seemed to flash for a second before all the shuriken hit the ground harmlessly at her side.

"I missed, no way!" Tenten said in disbelief as she stared at Temari.

"I take it you three saw that?" Jagaa asked his teammates. All three nodded as they continued to watch.

"What? Was that just to test me, or are you just that bad?" Temari mocked Tenten. "I was hoping that this would be more fun, but I guess I was wrong."

Tenten did her best to calm herself down as she measured the distance between herself and Temari. Temari noticed this and put her hand on her fan expecting a big attack. '_So the fans the trick._' Tenten thought to herself. '_In that case…_' Temari took off at a sprint and ran in a circle around Temari. Just as she was about the complete the circle she leapt into the air and pulled out a scroll. Twisting in the air so that the opened scroll spiraled around her, Tenten launched all the weapons it held at the smirking Temari. Temari's expression didn't change in the slightest as she casually knocked the weapons out of the air with a blast of wind.

"Again? How?" Tenten said in disbelief as she landed. Temari stood across from her with her fan now resting with one end on the ground, opened slightly to show a purple circle.

"This is the first star." Temari said conversationally. "There are two more. When you see all three, you will lose."

"Okay, Mousey, this is getting embarrassing!" Jagaa yelled. "Obviously throwing things at her doesn't work, so stop trying for distance and get in close and scrimmage already!"

"You shut the hell up!" Tenten yelled and pointed at him. "I don't need your advice! I'll do this my way!"

"I hate to point out the obvious, but your way isn't working!"

"Who asked you, asshole!"

A bit down from Jagaa, Gai was practically in tears as he listened to the exchange before he rounded on Lee and Neji. "MY DEAR STUDENTS, WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO MAKE THE LOVELY TENTEN'S LANGUAGE AND ATTITUDE SO UNYOUTHFULL!" He cried out as waterfall like tears fell down his face.

"I think it has to do with the one she is currently arguing with." Neji said stoically looking pointedly at Jagaa (who was in the middle of blowing a raspberry at Tenten when he yelped and ducked yet another kunai thrown at him).

Tenten turned back to Temari who was half laughing, half smirking at what was going on. '_I was saving this for the main matches, but it looks like I can't hold back._' Reaching behind her, Tenten pulled out two more scrolls and put them on the ground with one on either side of her and began running through some seals.

"**Soushouryu**!" She yelled and the two scrolls exploded to look like two dragons of smoke rising from the ground before turning back into scrolls. Jumping in between them, Tenten started grabbing weapons and throwing them at Temari until the number of them was almost impossible to count.

'_She's gonna lose. This type of attack is useless on that Temari girl._' Jagaa thought. '_Why does that girl have to be so stubborn?_'

Sure enough, Temari casually knocked the weapons away as easily as she had done all the others. "Second star." She said casually.

"I'm not done yet!" Tenten yelled and pulled the weapons back into the air with the unnoticed ninja wire attached to her fingers and sent them at Temari again.

"It's useless!" Temari said before blasting the weapons and Tenten away effortlessly. Tenten skid across the ground a ways before she was able to sit up and look at Temari, who was holding her fully opened fan behind her.

"Third star." Temari smirked before she as she pulled back her fan. "**Ninpou Kamaitachi**!" She yelled as she blasted Tenten with a huge whirlwind that lifted her in to the air and started cutting her with chakra enhanced wind.

Jagaa watched as Tenten's mouth hang open in a scream of pain that was drowned out by the fierce wind. '_Sorry, Mousey, but I tried to tell you._' Jagaa thought somewhat regretfully until he noticed the wind was starting to die down and looked at Temari. As soon as he saw the look on her face, and the shifting of her weight, he knew what she was about to do and his body moved.

Temari watched the falling Tenten with disdain. As she positioned her fan to hit the bun haired girl in the middle of her back, a black blur came out of no where and landed on top of the fan just before Tenten. Temari gasped when she saw that the black blur was none other than Jagaa with his face down, balancing on top of her fan in a crouch and holding Tenten bridal style.

Slowly Jagaa lifted his head and looked through his glasses at Temari with such intensity that she could feel the sweat starting to form on her forehead. "Now, now, Temari-chan. We both know that the fight was over the second she was caught in that whirlwind." Jagaa said with a small, dangerous smirk. "You should at least give a warning before getting ruthless. We're not at war after all."

Temari gulped audibly under the fierce gaze of the boy in front of her. It was unreal the sort of aura he was giving off. At first she wanted to compare it to Gaara's when he was feeling bloodthirsty, but the longer she was under it, the more she realized that wasn't right. Gaara was like a rabid animal with a taste for blood. Wild and erratic, simply wanting to kill everything in sight.

This was different. It was controlled and deadly, professional and lethal, as if she was under the deadly gaze of a predator as it slowly stalked her, waiting patiently for its chance to rip out her throat.

Temari was almost forcefully reminded of what Gaara had said when he had met Jagaa in the alleyway over a week ago, and she fully realized that her little brother had been right. This boy had blood on his hands, and he had a lot of it.

"Y-yeah, s-sorry about that." Temari said shakily. Then just like that, the feeling was gone and Jagaa was smiling at her.

"Well, no harm done." Jagaa said lightly as he hoped off the fan and started walking away with Tenten still in his arms. He suddenly stopped and turned back to Temari. "I guess this kind of ruins my chances at asking you on a date, huh?"

Temari gaped at him in disbelief before she forced herself to calm down. "Yeah, I think you're right." She said before turning her back on him and walking away.

Jagaa shrugged, "Oh well, can't win them all." With that he continued walking back to where both his and Tenten's teams were waiting. He almost jumped in surprise when he felt Tenten's hand grasp onto the front of his shirt and the girl herself snuggle up against him as if seeking comfort from his presence. Looking down Jagaa smiled softly when he saw that the girl was still unconscious. '_But, maybe it was worth it._'

Back with her team, Temari was still slightly unnerved by what had just happened. Kankuro was looking at her oddly since he had never heard Temari stutter like just had in his entire life, but remained silent. Gaara's eyes though were fixed on the retreating back of Jagaa. The boy in black had blood on his hands, that much Gaara was certain of. What he couldn't figure out was why he protected that weak girl from Temari's attack. Why should someone who was as much a killer as Gaara himself, care for anyone other than themselves.

Gaara viciously cleared those kinds of thoughts from his mind. It didn't matter why the boy had saved her. Gaara would still kill him. The boy would serve as just another means to prove Gaara's own existence. A small maniacal smile started to form at the thought.

As soon as Jagaa had reached the area his team was at, Jagaa carefully set Tenten on the floor and leaned her against the wall. As he pulled away from her, he gently reached out and moved a few strands of hair that had fallen out of her buns and into her face.

"You really are stubborn, you know that?" He said fondly and smiled softly at the girl before getting up and moving away.

A few seconds after he left, Tenten's eyes opened slowly and looked at Jagaa's back with wonder and confusion clearly showing in her eyes. Slowly, she raised her hand up and traced the area his fingers had touched while moving her hair.

"Yo, Jagaa. If you'd taken any longer, you might have missed it." Kakashi said and pointed, making Jagaa look up at the board.

_Inuzuka Kiba Vs Uzumaki Naruto_

Jagaa smirked before looking back at Kakashi. "I already know how it's going to end, so I wouldn't have missed much."

Kakashi looked a little confused, but Jagaa simply pointed to the arena floor signaling him to just watch.

Back on the floor, Naruto and Kiba were staring each other down, both wearing confident grins.

"I don't know what kind of training you may have been doing, Naruto, but there's no way you can beat me and Akamaru." Kiba grinned and Akamaru barked his agreement.

Naruto just smirked back. "Ha, you think so Dog Boy? I gonna remind you that you said that when they carry you out on the stretcher!"

"Stop acting tough. You know you can't win!" Kiba yelled as he pointed. Naruto never lost his confident smirk.

"Dog boy's in for a rude awakening." Ino said confidently. Kurenai looked at Naruto's teammates and couldn't help but wonder why they were so confident. She would admit that Naruto had grown on her since she met him when putting the genjutsu on his apartment, but she didn't think that he could have grown so much that his entire team could brush Kiba off as already lost. She had seen the academy records, and Naruto hadn't pulled that far ahead of Kiba. She decided she would just have to watch and see.

"Match six, begin." Hayate coughed.

Kiba dropped into a crouch and put his hands together into the tiger seal. "**Gijyuu** **Ninpou, Shikyaku no Jutsu**!" He said before dropping his hands to the ground as if they were legs, his fingernails growing and sharpening to look like claws. Through the whole thing, Naruto watched with interest, yet make no move of his own.

"I'll end this quick!" Kiba yelled as he charged at Naruto, throwing an elbow for the blonde's stomach. He gasped in surprise when Naruto almost casually dodged by moving to the side before bringing his own elbow down on the back of Kiba's exposed neck. Grunting in pain, Kiba turned his fall into a roll and came back to his feet. He was going to charge again but had to duck out of the way as Naruto's foot came straight for his nose. Rolling to the side, Kiba threw a few shuriken at the blonde only for Naruto to block them all with a kunai.

Kiba jumped back to get some distance from Naruto as Akamaru barked and joined his master. Kiba was staring in disbelief at Naruto and only vaguely aware that his dog was next to him now. '_What the hell? He's way better than before!_'

"What's the matter, I thought you were going to end it quick. Don't tell me you meant that you were going to give up right away." Naruto said in amusement. Kiba could hardly believe this was the same Naruto he had gone to the academy with.

"Heh, that was just a warm-up!" Kiba said as confidently as he could manage. "Let's go, Akamaru!" This time, both Kiba and Akamaru attacked Naruto. Kiba pulled out some smoke bombs and threw them at Naruto's feet filling the area with smoke. Kiba smirked knowing that Naruto wouldn't be able to see him and used his nose to find Naruto's location in the smoke. Having pinpointed him, Kiba threw a punch that was intended for Naruto's face, only to have his arm grabbed, followed by the feeling of flying through the air as he was thrown before he landed hard outside the smoky area.

Kiba, groaned a bit as he stood back up and watched the smoke as it dissipated. Next to him Akamaru stood confused to the fact that Kiba had come flying out of the smoke instead of Naruto like he had been waiting for. Kiba glared at the now visible Naruto and growled. "How the hell did you see me in the smoke?"

Naruto grinned impudently at Kiba. "Come on, Kiba. You should know better than anyone that people have other senses besides their eyes." Naruto smiled when Kiba's eyes widened. "The first thing I did when you threw the smoke bombs was close my eyes and listen for you. Once I could hear the direction you were coming from, I watched that way until I could make out your silhouette and judge how you were attacking. It was actually really easy."

Kakashi turned to Jagaa once again. "Were you the one who taught him that?"

"He didn't have to." Sasuke answered for him. "We've all been picking it up sort of naturally since we started training with Jagaa every day. Trying to rely on your eyes with someone who likes to change his attack at the last second is not a smart thing to do."

"He also loves to ambush us at random times." Ino added. "That's why Naruto was able to find Kiba so easy. It's a lot easier to catch somebody you know is coming, than someone who attacks out of the blue."

Kakashi didn't say anything after that and his eye betrayed no thoughts he might be having on the matter. Kurenai was a different story with her widened clearly giving away what she was thinking. '_Has Naruto really improved that much?_'

Kiba stared at Naruto in utter shock. He knew that the blonde had started getting better at the academy once Jagaa had come into the picture, but for him to have improved this much. Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down, Kiba put his confident smirk back on. "I'll admit, you are a lot stronger than I was giving you credit for, but it's over now."

"Should I start keeping tally of how many times you declare victory, only to have me smack your words back down your throat?" Naruto asked, managing to piss Kiba off again.

"This will be the last time!" Kiba yelled and reached into his weapons pouch to pull out two round pills. He threw one to Akamaru whose fur turned red as soon as he ate it as well as gaining a feral appearance. Popping the second one into his own mouth, Kiba put made the tiger seal again. "Let's do it, Akamaru!" The dog barked in response and jumped onto Kiba's back.

"**Gijyuu** **Ninpou, Jyuujin Bunshin**!" Kiba yelled. A burst of smoke surrounded Akamaru, and when it cleared there was a second Kiba on the back of the first one.

"Okay, now that's cool." Jagaa said to no one in particular.

"Why? What does Akamaru look like to you?" Ino asked.

"He looks like Kiba." Jagaa said. "The change is a physical one. In all sense right now, Akamaru _is_ Kiba. That's why I said it was cool" Jagaa said with a grin and turned back to the fight. "Not like it will make much of a difference though."

Both Ino and Sasuke smirked at that and turned their own attention back to the fight. Leaving those around them to wonder what exactly they were talking about.

"Let's end this, Akamaru!" The Kiba on the bottom yelled and both jumped into the air and headed strait for Naruto. Naruto jumped back as the pair slammed their fists into the area he had been standing causing a small cloud of dust to form. Before the dust had even started to settle, Naruto ran into it and drove his knee into Kiba's face. Kiba gasped in surprise and pain as he fell onto his back from the blow.

Recovering from his own surprise, Akamaru threw a punch at Naruto's side only to have the blonde sidestep out of the way and bring his foot around to slam his heel into the dog's back and drive him into the floor, but Kiba had already recovered and managed to block Naruto's foot with his forearm before throwing a punch for Naruto's gut. Naruto used the foot that was still on the ground to push himself into the air and dodge Kiba's punch. Once in the air he twisted and aimed a kick for Kiba's head but saw Akamaru coming back to aid his master and had to use his leverage to leap away from the pair and land in a crouch a good distance away.

"Let's get him Akamaru!" Kiba yelled as both he and his dog clone charged Naruto. As they closed in both of them put their arms out to their sides and threw them around to start themselves spinning like miniature cyclones. "**Gatsuuga**!"

Naruto saw the incoming cyclones and knew he wouldn't have time to jump out of the way, so in a fashion worthy of the title number 1 surprising ninja, he ran forward and baseball slid underneath them. The two cyclones continued past him and impacted the wall leaving a large depression. After having stopped from the collision, Kiba and Akamaru turned around to see Naruto standing with his right hand over his eyes and looking impressed as he let out a long whistle.

"That could have hurt." He declared jokingly.

Kiba smirked despite his irritation. "Heh, so you managed to dodge, but you won't be able to aga…" He stopped his monologue when he saw Naruto put his hands into an unfamiliar cross shaped seal.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**!"

Kiba gaped as the room was suddenly filled with thirty Naruto's who were all cracking their knuckles, and grinning. "What the hell is this?" Kiba yelled as Akamaru growled.

"What? You had Akamaru turn into another of you. Why are you getting upset that I made a few other mes?" Naruto said mockingly.

Kiba growled low in his throat. "It doesn't matter, a bunch of clones won't be enough to stop us!" Kiba yelled with an acknowledging growl from Akamaru as they both charged forward again. "**Gatsuuga**!"

This time Naruto (as well as his clones) knew what was coming and dodged out of the way before the two cyclones could get close enough to be dangerous. As Kiba and Akamaru spun through the air, they realized they weren't hitting anything and brought themselves to a stop to try again. The moment they had stopped spinning and turned around, the identical pair found themselves being hit by at least five fists each.

Both Kiba and Akamaru were sent into the wall painfully from the attack. Kiba dropped to his hands and knees from the impact but Akamaru was knocked unconscious and fell to the floor with a puff of smoke as his transformation was dispelled.

"A-Akamaru." Kiba growled slightly at the sight of his dog laying unconscious next to him. Several loud popping noises made him look back up to see a lone Naruto walking up to him. When Naruto was about ten feet away he stopped and looked at Kiba with a hard expression. "Looks like you lose."

"I'm..not done yet!" Kiba growled out as he pushed his way back to his feet. "I can sti…" He was cut off as Naruto's fist drove it's self hard into his stomach. Naruto stepped to the side as Kiba keeled over in pain, bringing both his hands over his head and clasping them together before slamming them into Kiba's back and driving him to the floor.

Kiba hit hard coughed out some blood. Before he could even think about trying to get up again, he was rolled onto his back and he felt the touch of cold steel against his neck.

"Give up, it's over." Naruto said as he held the kunai against Kiba's throat.

Kiba stared into Naruto's eyes and finally realized full well that he was completely out classed. Slowly Kiba nodded before turning his eyes to Hayate. "I give up." Hayate nodded. After declaring Naruto the winner he signaled the medic nins who were instantly at Kiba's side and giving him a quick examination.

"You gonna live, Dog Breath?" Naruto asked with his foxy grin in place and his hands behind his head.

Kiba glared at the blonde standing over him as the medic nins put a stretcher down next to him. "Just wait, Dobe! You may have beaten me this time, but next time we fight I'm gonna kick your ass into next year!"

"Hey, only one person is allowed to call me 'Dobe', and it sure as hell isn't the guy who just got his ass handed to him!" Naruto yelled and pointed at Kiba.

"You just got lucky you caught me off guard! Next time you won't get off so easy!" Kiba yelled back, miraculously recovering enough to sit up and bring his face within inches of the Naruto's as the two glared at each other.

"Oi, Dobe! Get your ass back up here so they can start the next fight!" Sasuke yelled.

"Shove it, Teme! I'm coming." Naruto yelled back. After throwing one last glare at Kiba he jumped back up next to them. "So did you all see? I totally kicked ass!" He yelled and pumped his fist into the air.

"I don't know, Dobe. You certainly took your sweet time." Sasuke smirked. "That fight took way longer than mine."

"Up yours, Teme! I was dealing with smoke bombs, transforming dogs, and killer cyclones! You just had to deal with a guy who shot air out of his hands!"

"If you had just knocked Kiba out to begin with instead of trying to show off, then I wouldn't have reason to bug you about it now would I."

"All right that's it! Me and you, right here, right now!" Naruto yelled and punched his fist into his palm.

"You're on. I'll show you that I'm still better tha…"

_**CLANK**_

The sound of their hitai-ates slamming together reverberated through the room as Jagaa took his hands away from the back of their heads. "Would the two of you shut the hell up before I decide to put you both in the hospital!" Jagaa growled at the arguing boys.

Both boys looked down like scolded school boys and muttered "We're Sorry" simultaneously.

"These three actually live together?" Kakashi whispered to Ino who just sighed and nodded.

A gasp from Hinata drew everyone's attention and they all looked to see the shy Hyuuga heiress with her hands in front of her mouth and looking frightened.

"Hinata, what's wrong?" Sasuke asked in concern, moving closer to her. When he didn't get a response from her he followed her line of sight to the board.

_Hyuuga Neji Vs Hyuuga Hinata_

Sasuke looked back at Hinata who was still frozen in fear before gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "Hinata?"

Hinata gave a small jerk and looked at Sasuke, whose concern for her was clear in his eyes. Taking a small amount of comfort in his gaze, Hinata lightly moved his hand from her shoulder and slowly walked to the arena floor.

Neji already stood in the middle of the floor watching Hinata approach with a disdainful eye. "I didn't think I would be fighting you, Hinata-sama." He said in a cold voice.

Hinata didn't respond as she looked down and away.

"You may begin." Hayate said.

Neji's eyes hardened on Hinata. "Hinata-Sama, before we begin I have one thing to tell you." Hinata looked back up into Neji's hard eyes. "Give up. You are not suited to be a ninja." Hinata's eyes widened but Neji didn't stop there. "You are too kind. You always seek peaceful solutions and try to avoid conflict. You also have no self confidence and always feel inferior." Neji's eyes were boring into Hinata's. "I also know that you didn't want to take the Chuunin exams, but because they must be taken in teams of three, you could not refuse the request of your teammates and are here unwillingly."

"Y-you're wrong." Hinata said desperately. "I-I just w-wanted to change myself. T-that's why…" Hinata never finished, simply looking down and away once again.

"…I think the worst part is…I'm inclined to agree with his assessment of her." Jagaa said in a low voice. He didn't miss the sharp look Naruto and Ino shot at him, or the full on glare that Sasuke gave him. Sasuke opened his mouth to say something, but Neji's voice cut him off.

"Hinata-Sama, you truly are nothing but a spoiled child from the head family." Neji said harshly. ""People can not change." Hinata looked back at Neji with hurt and fear in her eyes as Neji continued coldly. "A failure will always be a failure. Their personality and power will never change. That's why the terms 'elites' and 'failures' exist."

Nobody standing next to him missed the way Naruto's face hardened and how his knuckles started to turn white as Neji spoke. Naruto had been called a failure and a failure too many times for Neji's words to not have an effect on him. Next to him Sasuke's fist was gripping the rail with the same intensity that Naruto's was, only his reasons for being angry had to do with the person on the receiving end of the verbal assault.

"Everyone is judged by how good their face, body, skills, and personality are." Neji continued relentlessly. "They suffer because of what they lack but continue to live. It cannot be changed any more than the fact that you are from the head family and I am from the branch family can be changed. My Byakugan has seen many things, that's why I know that in truth, you are afraid of me."

Neji lowered his head slightly before bringing it back up to glare at Hinata. When he did, the veins around his eyes were enlarged and intimidating. "You know you can't beat me. You wish to run away and save yourself from the pain you know you will experience. You have already imagined what will happen if we fight. You have confirmed it within your self that you will lose, because can never change…."

"Alright, somebody shut this bastard up before I go down there and kick his ass myself!" Naruto yelled, surprising everyone.

"Get in line, Naruto, because I'm calling first dibs on this shit wad!" Sasuke's declaration surprised everyone even more than Naruto's had. Especially the rather coarse language he had used.

"Everyone can change for the better you asshole!" Naruto growled at Neji. "Who the hell do you think you are trying to label someone like that?"

"I think he's trying to cover up his own inferiority complex." Sasuke said coldly. "Maybe the fact that he looks more like a girl than a guy has made him bitter."

By now Neji was glaring daggers at the two boys, who were glaring right back at him.

Hinata glanced up in disbelief at both Sasuke and Naruto as they glared at Neji with pure anger in their eyes. One was the person she had always admired for his inner strength and determination. The other was the person who saw her for who she was and had become closer to her than she could have thought possible in the last month. Looking down she felt her resolve strengthen as she thought of the two who were defending her so fiercely. '_Sasuke-Kun, Naruto-Kun…Arigato._' When Hinata looked up again, all traces of fear was gone from her eyes as she stared determinedly at Neji.

Slowly she dropped into the Juuken stance of the Hyuuga. "Come Neji-Nii-San! Let us fight!"

Neji held back his surprise at the change in Hinata and arrogantly dropped into his own stance. "Very well, but don't say I didn't warn you."

Jagaa smirked slightly as he glanced at Naruto and Sasuke from the corner of his eye while they continued to glare at Neji. '_Well, it took them a bit longer than I thought, but they finally snapped at him._' He turned his eyes back to Hinata and the determination in her eyes, before sighing. '_But will it be __enough?_'

For what seemed like ages, Neji and Hinata's eyes bore into each other as the looked for a weakness in each others defense. Finally, they charged each other, both throwing their palms at the others chest. With twin blocks to the side, the two of them began exchanging blows in a way Jagaa had never seen.

Every move from strike and block seemed to flow through the air. Each evasion and counter was smooth and graceful as they pivoted and swerved to avoid each other and find an opening to attack. It felt as if they were watching an incredible dance instead of a fight.

Suddenly Hinata's arm shot forward, and for the briefest moment it looked like she would land a solid blow to her cousin, but Neji dodged back just in time to barely avoid it.

"Damn, so close!" Sasuke growled.

"It doesn't matter." Lee spoke up next to them and for the first time that they could remember he sounded almost mollified. "Even a light graze will start to hurt."

"Really? What style is that then?" Jagaa asked curiously. He was having a little trouble picturing any sort of fighting that didn't involve broken bones and dismemberment being all that effective.

Surprisingly enough, it was Gai who answered. Even more surprising was that he seemed just as mollified as Lee at the moment. "The style that Lee and I specialize in focuses on breaking bones and causing external wounds. That style is called, Gouken. The style that the Hyuugas use focuses on using chakra to disrupt the chakra circulatory system as well as cause damage to the internal organs. This style is called the, Jyuuken."

"There is no way to train your internal organs." Kakashi followed up after Gai. "No matter how tough you are, if you get hit in the right place, it will be fatal."

Jagaa looked back at the dance like battle being waged beneath them with an unreadable expression, "…Interesting." was all he said, as the others looked on in amazement.

"It looks like Hinata is a bit faster than him." Sasuke said with a hint of pride in his voice that no one missed. Naruto and Ino smiled at him.

Jagaa remained silent as he watched the battle continue with surprisingly hard expression, not noticing the curious look he was receiving from a certain brunette.

'_What's wrong with him?_' Tenten thought as she looked at Jagaa. She knew that she didn't know him all that well, despite their constant arguing, but she was sure that normally he would have been the type to cheer along with his younger teammates. So why was he being so silent, and his face so serious? She decided not to think about it and just watch the fight. Unfortunately at the moment she turned back to the match, both Hyuugas sent attacks straight into each other's chest, and she gasped out in shock along with a great deal of others.

For what felt like an eternity to the onlookers, the two Hyuugas stood fixed in their dual strike pose. A deafening silence filling the air.

Then the silence was broken by a painful cough from Hinata before blood started flowing from her mouth.

"HINATA!" Sasuke's shout echoed through the room.

"What the hell! Hinata's attack hit him too!" Naruto yelled as Ino gasped and put her hands to her mouth in horror.

Jagaa was the only one who made no visible movements as he looked on. However, if one were to look at his hand, they would have seen the slight tightening of his grip on the rail.

"So, this is the best that the head family could do." Neji said scathingly.

Panting heavily from both her exertion and the pain of the attack she had just received, Hinata used her free hand to knock Neji's aside and throw another attack at him. Just before it landed, Neji grabbed her arm with one hand and jammed his first to fingers into a point on it. After striking, Neji moved Hinata's sleeve up her arm to reveal several red spots on her arms from his strikes.

Hinata's eyes widened at the sight. "Y-you mean that you were…"

"Yes, my eyes can see the Tenketsu."

"What the hell is he talking about? What did he do to Hinata?" Sasuke yelled snapping his head in Kakashi's direction.

"Tenketsu, 361 points in the chakra circulatory system no bigger than a needle point, also known as chakra holes. Theoretically, if one can hit them accurately, they can either increase or restrict a person's chakra flow. In other words, it's a way to control a person's chakra." Kakashi said seriously. "Also, the Sharingan can not see the Tenketsu." Kakashi looked pointedly at Sasuke as he finished.

Sasuke was looking hard into Kakashi's eye when Naruto shouted next to him. "You bastard!" Sasuke turned back to the fight and clenched his teeth when he saw Hinata lying on the ground ten feet away from Neji, with said boy standing with his arm extended after his last attack.

"Hinata-Sama, this is the difference in our unchangeable powers." Neji said arrogantly as he moved closer to Hinata. "The difference between an elite and a failure. You were destined to regret this the moment you decided not to run away." Neji's eyes hardened once again as he looked down on the panting girl. "This is your last warning. Give up."

Hinata lay panting and bleeding on the ground as she looked over her shoulder at Neji. Slowly, her eyes moved up past Neji to the people on the balcony behind him, coming to rest on Naruto and Sasuke. She could see it. The anger, the concern, she could see it in their eyes. Slowly, painfully she started crawling to her feet, coughing and gasping blood as she rose.

Neji gaped in disbelief as the normally shy and timid girl rose once again to face him, her eyes showing nothing but her determination. '_Why? Why does she still try?_' Glaring at the girl in front of him, Neji dropped back into his Jyuuken stance.

"Hell Yeah! Kick that arrogant bastard's ass, Hinata!" Naruto yelled. Hinata smiled softly at the shout as she looked at him, before locking eyes with Sasuke. For a moment the two just stared at each other, until Sasuke finally nodded. Hinata nodded back, her small smile still in place as she looked back down to the ground. When she brought them back up to focus on Neji, her Byakugan was reactivated and her eyes were hard. She attacked.

Once again the dance like battle began as Hinata gave everything she had into beating Neji. '_Naruto-Kun, how long have I watched you and wanted to be like you? How long have I tried to find my own strength by admiring yours? Will I ever be able to tell you how much your support helped me here today?_'

Hinata ducked one of Neji's strikes and made a sweep for his legs before coming back up and throwing a palm to his face. '_And you, Sasuke-Kun. Barely a month ago, we didn't know anything about each other except our names. Now, you are the only person who knows the real me. The only person who ever knew the same feelings as me. In such a short time we have grown closer than I ever thought possible. If we had met before, would I have been able to change the way you have?_'

Hinata jumped back from Neji's strike and sent two of her own at his chest following up with a roundhouse to his head. Neji blocked each strike and leaned back from the kick before sending a strike to her abdomen from which Hinata twisted away from. '_The two of you have made more impact on my life than I could ever tell you. Now, with your eyes on me, I feel like I can change, that I have changed. That's why I want to…_' Hinata aimed a strike for Neji's chest, putting everything she had behind it. '_I will…_'

Hinata's body froze when Neji's open palm slammed into her chest, delivering a large burst of chakra to her heart. For a moment time seemed to stand still for all those watching, until Hinata fell forward and landed face down on the ground, her arm still outstretched from the attack.

"You are a foolish person, Hinata-sama." Neji said as he looked down on the prone girl. "Your attacks had no effect on me to begin with despite your efforts, but it's over now." He didn't even give her a back wards glance as he walked away.

Sasuke had clenched his eyes shut as he tried to hold back his anger at the arrogant Hyuuga. The knowledge that at one point in his life, he had been no better than the bastard only added to his growing rage at what the boy had done. The only thing he could find comfort in at the moment was that with Hinata down, he wouldn't have to watch her get hurt anymore.

"Don't stop the fight!" Naruto yelled, not only surprising Hayate who was about to call the match, but also everyone else. Well, Sasuke was actually more angry than surprised.

"What the Hell are you thinking, Naruto!" The fact that he used the blondes name was just one of the signs of his irritation. "She took a hit to the heart, there's no way she can fight anymore! She needs medical attention!"

Naruto didn't even look at the angry Uchiha as he answered in a low, almost accusing voice. "Are you giving up on her, Sasuke?" Sasuke was instantly even more pissed off.

"Of course I'm not giving up on her, but she can't…" Sasuke was cut off by the hard glare Naruto sent him.

"Then shut up and look, Teme. She's not done yet."

Sasuke stared at Naruto for a moment before looking back down to Hinata before letting out a loud gasp and clutching the rail with both hands. Hinata was rising. She was rising slowly, painfully, but rising. At first he wanted to shout at her, tell her to stay down so that she wouldn't be hurt anymore, but he stopped himself. Deep down, he knew she needed this. He knew that it was the only way she could ever start to see herself as more than worthless, and despite his own feelings, he also knew that he could never deny her that no matter what the price. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he steeled his resolve. When he opened them again they were filled with care and encouragement as he looked at the struggling girl.

"You're right, Dobe. She's not done yet." He said with a confident smirk.

Naruto didn't answer, but instead put on the same smirk Sasuke wore.

Neji heard Sasuke's gasp and turned back around and let out a gasp of his own when he saw Hinata painfully climbing to her feet once again, clutching her chest and coughing blood as she did. "Why?" Neji asked in disbelief. "Why are still trying so hard?" His eyes hardened on the girl in front of him when her own eyes came up to meet his, her determination still clear and unwavering. '_Why?_'

'_I can't give up, I won't give up._' Hinata thought as she gave Neji a confident smile. '_Not when they're watching and cheering for me._' Her eyes once again moved above Neji to look at the two people that had made such an impact in her life and her eyes locked with Sasuke's for the second time in the match. '_Not when he's watching._'

"There's no point in acting tough, you can barely stand." Neji said as Hinata painfully took a step forward. "I can already see that you have carried the destiny that is known as the Hyuuga family. You cursed your own weakness and blamed yourself, you have tried hard but you should realize now that it is useless." Neji closed his eyes and looked down. "People can not change. Your destiny has been decided since the beginning. There's no more need for you to suffer, just give up."

"You're wrong, Neji-nii-san." Neji snapped his head back up at Hinata's words. "Also, I can see that you are suffering more than me over the fate of the head and the branch family." Hinata's words struck a cord deep within Neji and filled him with a deep rage. Not caring about the consequences, Neji ran at the wounded girl, pulling his arm back as he prepared to deliver a killing blow.

Just before he could complete his attack, there was a giant burst of smoke and Neji found himself being restrained by Hayate, Gai, Kakashi and Kurenai.

"Stop this now, Neji." Gai commanded. "You made a passionate promise me that you wouldn't drag the Hyuuga family affairs into this."

"Why did the Jounins come out? Does the Main family get special treatment?" Neji asked contemptuously.

Just then, Hinata coughed painfully and fell to her knees as blood poured from her mouth. Kurenai instantly let go of Neji and ran to her side.

"HINATA!" Sasuke shouted as he jumped over the rail, nearly covering the full distance between himself and the fallen girl. Behind him, Naruto and Ino had dropped down to follow after him.

"Hinata, are you all right? Say something, Hinata!" Sasuke said frantically when he was by her side. His fear and concern clear in his eyes.

Hinata's eyes moved slowly over to him. "S-Sasuke-kun…" She said, her voice an almost inaudible whisper.

"Yeah, I'm here." He said as comfortingly as possible, and a tiny smile came to her blood covered lips.

"W-was I…" her voice started to fade making Sasuke have to lean his ear down by her lips to hear her. "Was I…able to change…a little?"

Sasuke moved his head away and saw that Hinata had fallen unconscious. Gently, he reached his hand out and wiped some of the blood away from her mouth. "Yeah…you were."

A hand rested itself on Sasuke's shoulder, and he looked up to see Naruto standing over him. His eyes were slightly hard, but full of sympathy and understanding. Naruto gave him a small nod that made Sasuke wonder if Naruto knew what Hinata had been fighting for as much as he had. Feeling a bit grateful for the support, Sasuke nodded back.

"Hey, you two." Neji's voice cut in making both boys turn and glare at him. "Let me warn you about two things. First, if you are really ninja, stop your ridiculous cheering for someone who isn't even your teammate. Second," Neji glared at the pair. "A failure is a failure, that fact will never change. I can understand the failure beside you not understanding that, but I thought you would know better, Uchiha."

Both Naruto and Sasuke stood slowly, eyeing the Hyuuga hatefully. "You want to put that theory to the test?" Naruto growled.

"Don't even think you're getting him all to yourself, Dobe." Sasuke said with his eyes never leaving Neji.

Neji smirked confidently at both of them. "Try me."

In perfect sync Naruto and Sasuke charged at the smirking Hyuuga fully intent on beating him to at least near death. They had taken no more than ten steps though, when Jagaa appeared in front of then, his arms crossed and face set dangerously. The two boys skid to a stop only a few feet in front of him.

"What are you doing, Nii-san?" Naruto asked.

"Get out of the way, Jagaa." Sasuke said through clenched teeth.

"The fights over, drop it." Jagaa said coolly, not moving an inch.

"What do you mean it's over? Did you see what he did to Hinata?" Sasuke yelled.

"I saw, but if you didn't want to see her taking so much punishment, then you shouldn't have cheered her on." Sasuke and Naruto actually stepped back at the coldness of Jagaa's tone. "She chose to fight, and she paid the price for it. That's what happens when you fight someone stronger than you. Now get over it."

Even as the two boys gazed in disbelief at Jagaa, his face softened slightly and his cold voice betrayed a hidden pain. "Just be grateful you didn't have to watch her die."

Both Naruto and Sasuke felt all the defiance leave them the second his words left his mouth. They knew exactly what he was talking about, and even trying to find an argument would have been completely stupid. Sasuke especially, found that all his words had died in his throat. Slowly they nodded, and turned back to Hinata, Sasuke immediately going next to the stretcher to follow her for as long as he was allowed. Ino, who had been watching and listening just like everyone else, looked at Jagaa sadly as her older brother figure turned to walk away.

Neji watched with mild irritation at the fact that Jagaa had ruined his chance to humiliate the Uchiha and the failure, but his smirk returned full force when he saw that Jagaa was going to walk right by him. Schooling his features to his normal arrogance, he spoke snidely when Jagaa came within hearing range. "It looks like you managed to stave off their humiliation. For today at least. However, fate has already been decided. When I next meet them in combat, they will lose."

Jagaa said nothing as he continued to walk until he was directly beside Neji. Suddenly Neji's smirk faltered as he was overcome by an overwhelming sensation of imminent death. As the feeling continued to course through him, he heard Jagaa speak to him in a low, dangerous whisper. "Know this, Hyuuga Neji. It wasn't just Hinata's life that was saved by the Jounins today. You owe them your own as well." The feeling only seemed to intensify at Jagaa's words, threatening to overwhelm him at any moment.

Then, just like that, the feeling was gone. Taking a quick glance around, Neji saw that no one seemed to be aware of what had just happened, at least as far as anything more than Jagaa walking past him and possibly saying something in response to Neji's taunts. Looking behind him, Neji watched as Jagaa calmly walked away as if nothing had happened.

**A/N:** Well, what do you think of the first half of the prelims? Sorry if it wasn't all that great, but I did try. Anyway, I guarantee that the next chapter won't take as long to get out. I won't give a timeline yet since that always seems to jinx me, but I will get it out as soon as I can.

I have also started another story. If you all are interested in checking it out, just go to my profile. Jagaa will be in the new story as well (as you'll see real quick) but he wont be playing quite as important a role as he has in this one. More like a Kakashi or Jiraiya type role.

That brings me to an important question I have to ask you all. The reason I thought up this new story was because I noticed that _this_ one was starting to become more and more Jagaa centric. Now here's the question.

**Are you all okay with me keeping this one a little more on the Jagaa oriented side, or do I need to do some serious rethinking on the story line?**

Please let me know what you all think. I have been a little uncertain about this for a while now. Ja ne.


	15. The Preliminaries, part 2

**A/N:** See. I told you it wouldn't take to long to get the next chapter up. What has it been, like a week? Go me! Here ya go. I hope you all enjoy it.

**Disclaimer:** Seriously, do you really need to hear it.

**Chapter 15:** The Preliminaries Part 2

"Well, that was boring." Jagaa said as he leaned against the rail.

"Not all the matches are going to be exciting, Nii-san." Ino reprimanded.

"I know that, but I would like to at least see a couple punches thrown. I mean, come on, she screamed and ran away the instant Shino called his bugs out. Don't you think that's just a little pathetic?"

Try as she might, Ino could find no response to that.

"That does finish off the sound team though." Sasuke said. "With that Kin girl forfeiting and running away, not one of them managed to make it through the prelims."

"Don't worry, Nii-san. I'm sure the next match will be worth watching. Hey, maybe it will even be your turn to fight." Naruto said as he patted Jagaa's shoulder.

Jagaa brightened noticeably. "That would be nice."

Tenten watched the exchange through slightly narrowed eyes. Wasn't it less than five minutes ago that Jagaa had been acting as cold as ice, and his teammates glaring at him for it. So why where they all acting like it had never happened now? She guessed it had something to do with his last comment before he left. It _had_ seemed to have some sort of effect on them. Though, she still couldn't understand why they were able to act like nothing had happened with such ease. It just didn't make sense.

On top of that, there was how Neji was acting. If she didn't know him so well she would never have noticed it, but seeing as she did, she could see that something was bothering him. The only clues she had to what it might be were the slight almost unnoticeable glances he would send Jagaa's way at random moments. Had Jagaa said something to him? She hadn't heard anything. Even if he had, what could he have said that would bother _Neji_ of all people? The guy could give a glacier tips on being cold, and that was coming from someone who liked him.

No matter how much she thought about it, Tenten just couldn't come up with any good answers. The only thing she could do now was watch and see if any thing else happened.

"I agree with you, Jagaa-san! I too wish to show how brightly the flames of my youth burn!" Lee suddenly said excitedly. "Let us both show them that our flames burn brighter than even the sun!" As he finished he went into a nice guy pose, his teeth shining brightly.

"Uh, yeah…sure…whatever you say." Jagaa said as he backed away slightly.

"Hey, look, it's my turn!" Ino shouted and Jagaa snapped his head to the board.

_Yamanaka Ino Vs Akadou Yoroi_

Jagaa sighed heavily. "Well, at least it should be better than the last one."

"Don't worry, Nii-san. I promise it will be entertaining." Ino said before jumped down.

Ino and Yoroi were soon staring each other down in the middle of the floor as Hayate looked between them before speaking.

"Match nine, begin."

"I was hoping to get someone worth fighting." Yoroi said with a sneer. "Instead I end up with a little girl."

Ino casually flipped her ponytail and smirked. "That's funny, I was just thinking the same thing." Yoroi's face darkened considerably.

'_This is already entertaining._' Jagaa thought with a smile.

Yoroi charged at Ino with his right hand pulled back for a strike. Strangely, his hand started to glow blue just before he took a swipe for Ino's face.

Ino wondered for a moment why Yoroi's hand was glowing, but stopped caring when she had to lean back to avoid his swipe. Twisting to the side, she brought her leg up and made a quick kick to Yoroi's ribs before jumping out of his reach.

Yoroi grunted as Ino's kick struck him. He tried to grab her leg, but had found that she had already jumped away. "Huh, it seems that you realized the danger of staying to close to me." He said as he rubbed his ribs.

"No way, I thought for sure that your glowing blue hand was to help me somehow!" Ino said feigning shock.

"It doesn't matter though!" Yoroi yelled as he charged in again and made another swipe. "Sooner or later I'll catch hold of you and drain you of all the chakra you have. It's only a matter of time." Yoroi was taking swipe after swipe, obviously to grab on to her.

"So your attack sucks out my chakra, but you have to be holding on to me to do it." Ino said with a smirk. "Anything else you want to tell me about your techniques to make it easier for me to beat you?" Ino laughed as she kept dodging Yoroi's grabbing movements with a graceful ease.

Yoroi growled and thrust his hand for Ino's arm but gasped when Ino grabbed his own arm instead before twisting into him and throwing him over her back. He managed to right himself in the air, twisting around so that he was facing her again as he landed on his feet and sweeping his hand backwards at her head. Unfortunately for him Ino had seen it coming and had already ducked low. As Yoroi's hand passed over her, she stepped in close and drove a palm into his exposed chin, making him reel back.

"Oh, that had to hurt." Ino gloated as Yoroi spit out some blood. "You're not gonna give up yet are you? I'm still warming up."

Yoroi didn't answer as he launched another assault on the blonde girl. Ino looked a bit offended that he was _still_ trying to get his hand on her. As another swipe came at her, she grabbed his forearm with her left and sent two quick jabs to his ribs with her right before sending elbow into his chin this time. As Yoroi staggered from the blow, Ino jumped into the air to deliver a hammer blow to the top of his head. As she landed she crouched and swept his legs from underneath him and sent him to the ground before jumping out of his reach again.

Despite the daze and considerable amount of pain he was in, Yoroi rolled away from Ino and came to his feet unsteadily with his hand still glowing.

Ino let out an exaggerated sigh. "Couldn't you at least _try_ doing something else? This is really getting boring." Despite her reproachful tone and sigh, her eyes were sparkling with amusement.

Yoroi was growing increasingly annoyed that he was being toyed with by the blonde girl. With a howl of anger he charged again, his glowing blue hand swiping at Ino futilely over and over again. Ino was smirking as she continued to dodge with ease, only occasionally throwing a punch or a kick at some place that wouldn't do too much damage simply to add insult to injury.

"Ino seems to really be enjoying toying with this guy." Jagaa said.

"I've said it before. I'm on a team of sadists." Sasuke looked accusingly at both Jagaa and Kakashi.

"Even though she seems to be in complete control of the fight, she's going to make a mistake if she gets overconfident." Kakashi said lazily.

As if to prove Kakashi's words true, at that moment Ino miss stepped and stumbled backwards slightly, giving Yoroi the opening he needed.

"I've got you!" He cried triumphantly as his hand shot forward and grabbed hold of her and began draining her chakra with a cocky grin that was hidden behind his purple mask.

The temperature in the room seemed to drop to frigid levels and an aura of rage surrounded Ino. Yoroi's grin was replaced by a look of pure terror as Ino's desire to kill overwhelmed him. Yoroi slowly dropped his gaze to his hand, breaking out into a cold sweat when he saw that it was firmly grasping Ino's left breast.

"This isn't gonna be pretty." Jagaa said in a slightly apprehensive tone. Naruto and Sasuke seemed to agree as they slowly moved behind Jagaa, just in case.

"You…" Ino's voice was low and deadly as the vengeful aura rose to greater heights.

Yoroi let go of Ino's breast and backed away waving his arms in front of him as if trying to ward off a devil. "W-wait, p-please, i-it was an…"

"YOU PERVERT!" With the war cry that spelled certain doom for any male unfortunate enough to be its target. Ino charged.

The spectators spent the next full minute doing various degrees of cringing, gasping, shutting their eyes, and being just plain afraid, as they watched Yoroi being utterly destroyed by the enraged blonde. Finally an ear piercing, girlish scream echoed through the room, and all the males covered their most sacred parts as phantom pains wracked their bodies.

Ino dusted her hands with her eyes closed, head turned to the side, and her nose pointed to sky disdainfully, while standing over a lump of flesh that if you squinted and turned your head to the side would just barely pass for having once been human. With satisfied grunt, Ino marched away to rejoin her team up on the balcony.

Jagaa, Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi watched the girl warily as she approached them. Noticing this, Ino glared at them. "What?"

"That was…rather brutal." Jagaa said with a small trace of pride in his voice. The others nodded while still watching the girl carefully.

"Did you see what he did? He definitely deserved what he got." Ino said haughtily.

"If you hadn't spent so much time playing around it wouldn't have happened." Naruto said in an almost inaudible voice.

Ino's head slowly rotated to Naruto and an evil gleam came to her eyes. "Did you say something?" She asked in an overly sweet voice.

Naruto squeaked and ducked behind Jagaa so that only half his face could be seen. "N-no, n-n-nothing at all." He stammered out hastily.

"Good." Ino sniffed and turned away from all of them.

Sasuke leaned in close to Naruto and whispered in his ear, his voice sounding amazed and even slightly impressed. "You actually have a crush on her, Dobe?"

Naruto gave him a feeble smile as he shrugged helplessly.

Sakura watched Ino and felt herself growing more depressed than ever as she slumped against the wall. '_Even Ino has gotten so strong. How far behind everyone am I?_'

"Hey, Chouji, you're in trouble now." Shikamaru said to his teammate. "Only strong guys are left now." Shikamaru looked at Lee, "I've heard that that guy is an extremely skilled taijutsu user," his eyes moved to Jagaa, "We all know Jagaa is the strongest on his team, and seeing how easily his teammates have won their matches, that's no small thing." Finally he looked at Gaara. "Then there's that guy from Suna. His type is the most dangerous."

Chouji let out a dejected sigh and slid down the rail trembling. "It doesn't matter, I'll just give up."

"But if you do that, you won't be able to enjoy all you can eat barbeque." Asuma said slyly to Chouji who looked up as if he had been struck. "What? But I want to."

"Well then your going to have to give it your all wont you." Asuma said as he crouched next to Chouji. "Don't worry, if things look bad I'll jump in and stop the match just like I did with Hinata." Asuma patted Chouji on the back good naturedly.

'_You never actually went to stop Hinata's match._' Shikamaru thought irritably.

"We will now resume the matches." Hayate said signaling the bored to start running through the last few names.

"Yosh, I have a good feeling it's going to be your turn now, Lee! Go show them the power of your youth!" Gai said exuberantly and going into the nice guy pose.

"I don't want to." Lee said stubbornly, making Gai drop his pose in surprise. "I've come this far, I want to go last now."

"Is that guy…sulking?" Ino asked looking around her and everyone shrugged.

The board came to its conclusion and Gaara calmly made a seal and disappeared in a whirl of sand to reappear on the floor. Looking up at the remaining three he glared fiercely. "Hurry up and come down."

"Rawwww, I'm gonna win and eat all you can eat barbeque!" Chouji yelled out and jumped over the rail.

"NOOOOO!!!" Lee's shout of despair reverberated through the room. "If you throw a rock at a pole, it will not hit, but if you throw without aiming it will hit! That was the law I was trying to use. GAI SENSEI, MY PLAN FAILED! THEY DIDN'T FALL FOR IT! I DIDN'T REALLY WANT TO BE LAST!"

"Don't worry my adorable student! This just shows that they wanted to have the brightest flames of youth burn at the end for all to see!" Gai yelled and struck another nice guy pose.

Lee looked at Gai with tears in his eyes. "Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"I'm gonna have to fight that!" Jagaa yelled and pointed at the crying Lee. "I WANT A REDO!" Tenten burst out into maliciously amused laughter and Jagaa shot her a hard look while growling slightly.

Oblivious to the happenings going on above them, Chouji and Gaara stood in the middle of the floor facing each other. Despite his previous declaration of victory for the sake of food, Chouji could feel his confidence and his resolve weakening as he stared into the cold, teal eyes of the redhead in front of him. Shaking his head he steeled himself again. '_I can't chicken out now. All you can eat barbeque is at stake._'

"Match Ten, will now (cough) begin."

Chouji wasted no time and threw his hands together. "**Nimpou: Baika no Jutsu**!" Chouji's body expanded to an incredible size and his arms, legs, and head all retracted into it making him look like a giant ball. "Barbeque, here I come!" He shouted as his body started rolling at a high rate of speed directly at Gaara who was standing with his arms crossed and looking completely unconcerned.

Just as Chouji looked sure to crush the stoic red head, his movement was stopped by a layer of sand the sprouted up in front of him. Chouji kept rolling trying to push his way through the barrier but found that no matter how much he pushed at it, the sand kept piling up in front of him and impeding his movement. Soon Chouji lost his momentum and his roll was stopped.

Once Chouji stopped, a large amount of sand lifted the rounded boy and threw him powerfully against the wall, embedding him in it. Being stuck in his current state, Chouji dispelled the jutsu and faced Gaara in his original size and body shape.

"This is boring." Gaara said with just the slightest hint of annoyance. A wall of sand rushed Chouji, who was only just able to get out of the way as it crashed into the wall. Without pause another wave of sand came his way, Chouji managed to roll out of the way again this time jumping to his feet and ran straight at Gaara with his fist drawn back.

"**Bubun Baika no Jutsu**! ARM!" To the amazement most of the Genin, Chouji's arm grew giant sized as he threw his punch. Gaara's sand blocked the strike, but even he was slightly surprised by seeing a fist as big as him in front of him. Chouji pulled back his arm letting it shrink back to its normal size. "LEG!" He yelled and lifted his leg up as it too grew the same way his arm did. Chouji brought his heel crashing down for Gaara's head but the giant foot was stopped by the shield of sand yet again.

Gaara's slight surprise at the large appendages had vanished and now he was simply getting annoyed with the other boy's attempts to hit him. A new wave of sand erupted from in front of him and bore down on the other boy. Chouji tried to jump out of the way again but his leg was still extended from his last attack and not able to put the force he needed into the jump to avoid the sand completely. Chouji felt a heavy impact to his side that sent him spinning and rolling along the ground.

Chouji was slightly dizzy as he tried to pick him self up but wasn't fast enough as another wall of sand smashed him against the wall. Chouji feel to his knees coughing blood even as a tendril of sand snaked its way around his ankle. Before Chouji knew what was happening he was picked up and spun through the air before being slammed onto the stone floor making him cry out in pain.

"This isn't good!" Shikamaru said and leaned over the rail. "He doesn't stand a chance at this rate!"

"It's a little worse than that." Jagaa said drawing everyone's attention. "He's about to be killed if someone doesn't intervene."

Jagaa's statement was reinforced by Chouji being slammed into another wall, leaving him coughing more blood and clutching his ribs.

"Chouji, give up! You can't win!" Shikamaru yelled as fear for his best friend's safety began to overwhelm him.

Chouji feebly tried to raise his hand but was coughing too hard to speak. Everyone watched in horror as another wall of sand rushed at the bleeding boy. The sand rose up as it reached him intending to smash him into the stone floor and crush him, when it suddenly froze in mid air before falling apart and laying motionless on the floor. A surprised and momentarily relieved gasp ran through most of the room as everyone wondered what was going on. Looking at Gaara, they saw the red haired boy looking around the room in apparent confusion, leaving everyone to wonder what had happened to the boy.

Gaara was looking at everyone he could see through narrowed eyes. He had been just about to crush the pathetic waste of space he was fighting when a killing intent that surpassed anything he had ever felt before washed over him and forced him to stop his attack from surprise. His search was proving fruitless however, as everyone seemed just as surprised at his sudden halt in his attack as he was. Gaara felt a small twinge of nervousness when he realized that he had been the only one who had felt it, and he still couldn't find the source.

"I…I gi-give…up." Gaara turned to see Chouji had finally managed to croak out his surrender, and his anger started to rise. He had lost his chance to kill the boy now that the match was over, and the unidentified source of the killing intent was responsible. Feeling extremely agitated as he disappeared in a whirl of sand to rejoin his team, Gaara vowed to him self that he would make the death of whoever had ruined his fun slow and painful.

As the medic nins and Chouji's team rushed down to him, Jagaa had twisted his face away from every one and was rubbing the bridge of his nose as discreetly as possible. Letting out such a concentrated blast of his killing intent at the maximum level he could get it without being in a rage had given him a small headache. '_Why does it seem like I'm stuck playing 'Hero' today. I bet its Naruto's fault somehow. I'm just glad I was able to keep sand boy from noticing it was me._' Jagaa stopped rubbing the bridge of his nose and looked up at the display board.

"Do you think Chouji's going to be okay?" Ino asked worriedly.

"Don't worry, Ino. I'm sure he'll be just fine." Naruto said consolingly and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. Ino smiled gratefully.

"That's right. You, Chouji, and Shikamaru practically grew up together didn't you?" Sasuke asked.

Ino nodded. "All our dads were on the same team when they were kids, so the three of us would always end up playing together whenever they would visit each other."

"You!" Jagaa said angrily catching the other three by surprise. They quickly looked over to see him with a rather irritated look on his face as he glared at Asuma. "Didn't you say that if things looked bad you would step in and stop the fight? Why the hell didn't you do it then?"

Asuma shrugged, "The match hadn't been called and I figured he still had a chance at winning, so I was waiting."

Everyone except Jagaa gaped at him. "The guy couldn't land a hit and was about to get crushed by sand. If that's what you call 'still having a chance', then I don't even _want _to know what your idea of losing is."

Asuma gaze Jagaa a small smirk. "I didn't know you cared so much about him."

"I don't." Jagaa deadpanned, "But Ino does, and if she had to watch one of her best friends die I would have held you personally responsible for it." Jagaa's statement seemed neutral enough, but the tone he said it in was one that promised a great deal of pain. Though he was a Jounin and knew that if it came down to it he could handle Jagaa fairly easy, Asuma still had to fight the urge to gulp.

"Sorry to interrupt, but haven't you forgotten something?" Kakashi said and tapped Jagaa on the shoulder. Jagaa looked at him, then to where he was looking and saw the electronic board.

_Rock Lee Vs Jagaa_

"Oh, right. Guess I should get down there then." Jagaa said. He took a quick look over at Lee, who was in the middle of doing some warm up exercises, and slightly shuttered before he jumped over the rail.

"Now, go, Lee! Show them how hot your flames of youth burn!" Gai struck yelled as he struck yet another nice guy pose.

"OSSU, GAI-SENSEI! I WILL MAKE YOU PROUD!" Lee yelled with flames in his eyes before jumping over the rail to land less than ten feet in front of Jagaa with a pleased smile. "Even though our flames must burn last, I am truly glad that I get to fight you, Jagaa-san!"

Jagaa didn't respond. He only stood there staring at Lee with his hand wrapped around his chin while a fierce debate took place in his mind. '_Would it really be so bad to forfeit. Sure, it would mean I wasted my time waiting for my turn, and I would be the only one on my team not to advance, but would it really be so bad. Crap, but then Mousey would be able to hold it over my head for the rest of my life and…_' and thus the fierce debate continued. Needless to say, Jagaa was not as thrilled to fight Lee as Lee seemed to be to fight him.

On the balcony, Gai was grinning at Kakashi triumphantly. "It would seem that your student is a bit hesitant to fight my adorable student, Lee, my eternal rival."

Kakashi gave Gai a bored look. "Believe me, Gai, I know exactly how he feels." Gai may have missed the implications of this, but Naruto, Ino, and Sasuke didn't and were all trying to hold back their laughter.

Next to them, Neji and Tenten were staring at Jagaa through slightly narrowed eyes. Each of them had their own reasons, but they both wanted to know exactly what Jagaa was really capable of.

'_Your hiding something, I can feel it. I _will_ find out what it is._'

'_What powers has fate bestowed upon __you?_'

'_So, that's the kid Pops was talking about._' Asuma mused as he took a drag on his cigarette. '_Should be interesting._'

'_Despite the fact I've talked with him on several occasions, the only thing I know about him are the rumors. I am interested in seeing how much is true._' Kurenai thought as she starred down into the arena floor.

Gaara stood on the opposite balcony, glaring savagely. '_Show me that you will be worthy of proving my existence._'

"The final match of the preliminary fights will now (cough) begin." Hayate said before backing up slightly.

Lee took his stance and watched Jagaa carefully as he waited to see what sort of stance he would take. However, to his surprise, Jagaa made no movements and only continued to cradle his chin in his hand as if lost in thought.

'_He must be underestimating me if he is not even going to take a stance. He will soon find that is a mistake._' Lee rushed forward at an impressive speed and leapt into the air twisting his body and bringing up his leg.  
"**Konoha Senpu!**" He yelled as his leg came around to strike Jagaa in the face as Jagaa remained unmoving.

'…_slip away at night. Then I could move to Kiri and change my name to…_' "Whoa!" Jagaa was still lost in his escape plans and didn't even realize the match had started when his danger instincts kicked in and he leaned back just in time to let Lee's foot pass within an inch of his face. When he saw Lee land and appear to be setting up for another attack even though he had a curious look on his face at Jagaa's outburst. Jagaa rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and laughed a little. "Oh, sorry, I didn't know we'd started."

Lee (as well as everyone else) simply gaped at Jagaa for a moment before shaking his head and dropping back into his stance. "May I ask why you were unaware that our match had started, Jagaa-san?"

"Oh, nothing much, just some thoughts on moving to Kiri." Jagaa said with a slightly nervous laugh.

Most of the watchers were confused as to why make Jagaa would be thinking about moving to Kiri. Kakashi however understood perfectly well and was glancing sidelong at Gai. '_Kiri, huh?_ _I wonder if he'd let me go with him?_'

Jagaa shrugged at Lee and gave him a light smile. "Well, since you already threw the first attack, I guess I'll go with option two and go ahead and fight you. So come at me whenever you're ready…uh, ready again." Jagaa then simply crossed his arms in front of his chest and waited, the smile still on his face. "Let's enjoy this." As soon as he said that a small frown came to Jagaa's face. "I hope saying that doesn't come back to bite me in the ass the way it did, Tora." Jagaa mumbled before focusing on Lee again.

Lee calmly shifted back into his stance, no longer concerned that Jagaa was not taking him seriously. "As you wish!"

Lee ran forward at impressive speed and threw a punch for Jagaa's face. Instantly, Jagaa's arms became uncrossed as his left arm came up and redirected the punch to the side and his right went for Lee's gut. Lee dropped his left elbow and blocked Jagaa's punch before jumping back slightly. Having enough room, Lee threw a kick at Jagaa's stomach, only to have Jagaa's leg collide into his own.

Lee was surprised by the mirrored movement and hesitated for a split second. Jagaa quickly took advantage of that hesitation and stepping into Lee and jumping up to threw his left knee at Lee's face. Lee dodged back in time to avoid the knee, but was completely caught off guard when Jagaa twisted and drove his right heel into his chest sending him flying backwards.

Lee managed to right himself in the air and landed on his feet but had to quickly jump backwards as four shuriken embedded into where he had landed. Jagaa jumped into the air and spun to give his next volley some extra force before letting them fly. Lee drew a kunai and blocked used it to block the incoming shuriken before sending it flying at Jagaa.

Still being in the air, Jagaa twisted so the kunai just missed him and grabbed it out of the air before sending it back at Lee.

Lee was somewhat surprised when the kunai ended up fifteen feet to his left and started looking from it to Jagaa questioningly.

Jagaa landed and looked at Lee, then at horribly thrown kunai. "Kami, I hate those things!" He declared before throwing five more shuriken that Lee quickly realized were very much on target as he jumped out of the way and threw a few of his own as a counter.

Up on the balcony, Tenten was grinning as if Christmas had come early at seeing Jagaa's horrible kunai throwing skills. '_I will _never_ let him live this down!_' She vowed with an evil grin. '_He's going to pay for all the times he's called me Mousey._'

"What do you guys think?" Ino asked Sasuke and Naruto.

"This Lee guy is pretty good." Sasuke said looking at Lee. "Any of us could hold our own for a while, but he would beat us in the end."

"Is that with or without your Sharingan active?" Naruto asked.

"Without, but even with it would be tough."

"Nii-san must be having fun then." Naruto said with a smirk that was mirrored by Sasuke and Ino as the focused back on the fight.

Jagaa and Lee had once again closed the distance between them. Jagaa dodged around Lee's punch and aimed an elbow for the back of Lee's head, but Lee got his hand back in time to stop the blow. Grabbing the arm and twisting, Lee threw a fist at Jagaa's side, only to have Jagaa block by bringing his knee up. Without dropping his leg Jagaa snapped a kick at Lee's chin making him twist his body to avoid it. Using the twists momentum Lee aimed a back hand for Jagaa's face. Jagaa moved his head just enough to avoid the hit and grabbed Lee's arm even as he raised his leg and drove a kick at Lee's chest. Lee sidestepped quickly to avoid it, but only just missed being hit in the face when Jagaa's leg snapped back and sent his heel at Lee's head. Lee quickly broke away from Jagaa, dropping back into stance and looking for a new opening.

"Your student is much more impressive than I had believed, Kakashi. He is fighting well against my Lee in a straight taijutsu battle. However, surely you can see that Lee has better speed." Gai looked over at Kakashi to gauge his response.

"Hm, you say something, Gai?" Kakashi asked boredly.

"OH, MY GOD!" Gai screamed at Kakashi's reaction with his head in his hands before turning away and muttering something about hip attitudes.

Kakashi focused back on the fight as he tuned out Gai's muttering. '_Lee does seem to have a speed advantage over Jagaa. However, Jagaa has experience, which could be a more dangerous advantage._' Kakashi watched as Lee attacked Jagaa once again

Lee once again tried to punch Jagaa in the face only to have Jagaa drop down and sweep at his feet. Lee jumped back and prepared to attack when Jagaa came back to his feet, so the fact that Jagaa instead kept his hands on the ground and went into a hand stand with his legs out and started spinning like a top. Lee was so surprised by the strange move that he wasn't able to stop the heel that connected with his chin, leaving him in a surprised daze. As Jagaa spun he twisted and put his feet back on the ground coming up and still spinning, he grabbed his right fist in his left hand and used it and the momentum of the spin to drive his right elbow directly into Lee's gut. Saliva burst out of Lee's mouth before he was sent backwards through the air to land painfully on his back fifteen feet away. Gasping for air, Lee looked for Jagaa and saw him in the air with his right fist cocked back and coming down fast. With all the strength he could muster, Lee rolled backwards to get to his feet and shoved off the ground just before Jagaa's fist hit. Lee continued to flip through the air until he came to rest on top of the statue in the room. Still breathing heavily to recover his still short breath, Lee looked back to Jagaa and paled a bit when he saw a two foot wide indent left in the ground where his head had been a moment before.

Jagaa looked up at the panting Lee and gave him a small smirk as he stood and crossed his arms and waited for Lee to recover. Lee was a bit worried that Jagaa seemed to have no problems with letting him rest, but he was grateful for the opportunity.

"That was an impressive punch! Your student's youth burns brightly, Kakashi!" Gai said as he looked back at Kakashi who simply shrugged. "However, Lee's youth burns brighter still!" Gai then shouted at Lee and struck a nice guy pose. "LEE, TAKE THEM OFF!"

Lee looked at Gai slightly confused. "But, Gai-sensei, I thought that was only permitted when protecting many important people."

"It's okay, I give you permission this time!"

Lee's face took the look of an excited child as he sat down on the statue. Moving his orange leg warmers down, he revealed two sets of leg weights. He quickly took them off and stood up again, holding the weights out to the side. "Yosh, I can move so much easier now!" He said happily as he let them go.

"Hah," Naruto yelled as the weights fell. "There's no way that just dropping some weight is going to help you agai…" He was cut of by the earth shaking crash that occurred when as the weights hit the ground. "WHAT THE HELL!" His shout pretty much echoed the thoughts of everyone watching.

Neji and Tenten were just as surprised as the other spectators, but their surprise was for a different reason. They had already known about Lee's weights and had watched Jagaa's reaction when they hit the ground and were nearly floored when all he did was raise his eyebrows a bit and let out a whistle.

"NOW GO, LEE!"

"OSSU!"

Lee crouched down before blurring out of sight. Behind his glasses, Jagaa's eyes widened as he brought his arms up in front of him just in time to block the kick to his ribs that came as Lee materialized in front of him. Blurring away again Lee appeared behind Jagaa who was trying to turn around and punched him in the middle of the back to send lurching forward. On instinct Jagaa ducked to avoid the next punch that came at him from the right side, but was caught in the chin by the kick that came from his front. As the kick lifted Jagaa back up Lee followed it with a hard right into the side of Jagaa's face that sent him tumbling along the floor before he came to a stop in a crouch with his head held down. Lee wasted no time and blurred out of existence again to deliver another blow.

The next thing everyone saw was Lee standing in a way that showed he had come to a very sudden stop with the tip of Jagaa's sword mere inches from his throat. Jagaa raised his head to look at Lee, a small trail of blood running from the corner of his mouth, but not showing any other signs that the hit had affected him. "Not bad." He said with a smile that was both approving and intimidating at the same time.

"T-that was a solid hit! How could he brush that off like nothing?" Kurenai stammered as Jagaa got back on his feet with his sword still on Lee.

"To be able to take a direct hit from Lee like that, this Jagaa is impressive indeed." Gai said in a low tone.

Kakashi was staring intently at Jagaa with his visible eye narrowed. '_It's true, that was a very solid hit. I knew Jagaa was tough, but this is almost ridiculous._'

Jagaa was still holding his sword at Lee's throat, his smile still in place. Lee was weighing the risks of trying to get behind him again before Jagaa could bring his sword around, when his thoughts were cut short by Jagaa moving his sword away and putting it back in its sheath. He was further surprised when Jagaa went back into the same thinking pose he had been in at he start of the fight. Lee was about to ask what Jagaa was doing when Jagaa spoke.

"I have found myself at a bit of an impasse, Lee." Jagaa said to the bob haired boy. "You see, there are two ways I could continue this fight. One would be using my sword to keep you at bay and offset your speed advantage, but that would be a bit boring on my end. The other would be much more fun, but it would require me doing something I have avoided since my arrival at Konoha. What do you think I should do?"

Lee wasted no time going into a thinking pose of his own and closing his eyes in thought, the notion that it could be some kind of trick never once crossing his mind. "I don't know what it is that you have avoided doing, but one should never deny themselves the chance to make a battle more enjoyable." Lee said with a couple nods of his head.

If it had been anyone else (well with the exception of maybe Naruto) Jagaa would have thought that the guy was just trying to avoid having to deal with his sword. However, one didn't need to be around Lee very long to know that the guy was a very honest person, and was probably hoping that it would allow him to enjoy the fight more as well.

'_Oh well, I guess it would have happened sooner or later anyway. I'm just glad there are no fangirls around._' Jagaa thought before speaking. "All right then. I guess I'll do just that." Jagaa once again reached for his sword, but this time instead of drawing it, he took it off sheath and all and threw it to Naruto. "Hold this for me would you, otouto." He turned back to Lee as Naruto caught the blade in surprise. "Congratulations, Lee. You have managed to do something that even the most rabid of fangirl has yet to accomplish." And with that, Jagaa stripped off his hoodie and threw it behind him.

Various gasps went through the room as the hoodie fell to the floor as the long scars on Jagaa's arms became visible to many for the first time. Naruto, Ino, Sasuke, and Kakashi were staring at something else that had been revealed with the discarding of the clothing.

Underneath the hoodie, Jagaa wore a black Gi-like vest that seemed to be made out of an extremely thick fabric with the front open just enough that the large scar running across his chest could be partially seen. Without pause, Jagaa then started taking off the Gi as well, holding it in both hands when he was finished.

"Now things should get more interesting." Jagaa said as he threw the Gi behind him.

The first thought that crossed everyone's mind was, "How will taking off a few layers of clothing help?" That thought was wiped away when they felt Jagaa's chakra level spike four times higher than it had been through the entire fight. Naruto was, again, the one to announce everyone's general thoughts.

"HOLY SHIT!"

Jagaa didn't seem to hear as he stretched his arms and arched his back. "Wow, it feels great to have full access to my chakra again."

Tenten was watching the exchange with wide eyes, her mind almost blank from everything that had been happening. All noise around her seemed muffled and nothing registered in her vision except his scarred body. His body was muscular and sleek. Well toned but obviously still flexible. His abs were not quite a six pack, but still had a look of being rock solid. Even the scars that covered his body gave him a dangerous, primal like attractiveness. Even as she looked at him though, a depressing (Though she really didn't know why it was) thought entered her mind. '_How little do I really know about him?_'

"NII-SAN, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING YOU WERE WEARING!" Naruto screamed at his brother.

"Just something I bought a while back." Jagaa said nonchalantly as he continued stretching. He stopped quickly when he felt a feeling of dread wash over him and slowly looked up to see three very murderous pairs of eyes glaring at him. Gulping slightly, he decided he should probably start spilling before he was killed by his own team.

"Okay, okay, I'll talk." He said as he put his hands up in surrender. The glares lessened slightly but did not go away completely causing Jagaa to sigh. "It's a special Gi that is designed to help you on both your ability to use chakra, as well as increase your overall reserves." He said earning many confused looks.

"How does it do that?" Sasuke asked with narrowed eyes.

"It restricts the flow of chakra making it harder to draw so that it's as if you only have access to about a fourth of your maximum reserves. Another thing it does is siphon away about a third of any chakra you do manage to pull out, meaning you have to try three times harder to perform even the most basic of jutsus. That's how it helps your control."

"I see." Kakashi said with a thoughtful expression. "In a way it's like strapping weights to your chakra. Just like the body would get used to the strain of the weights and move much faster and easier without them. You would get used to having to work harder to draw your chakra making it that much easier when the restriction was released."

"Exactly." Jagaa said with a nod.

"You said it increased your reserves as well. How does it do that if it's limiting how much chakra you can extract?" Asuma asked curiously.

"That's due to one of the other fun little features. Throughout the day, even if you don't use any chakra at all, if you are wearing that thing you will be in a state of near chakra depletion by night fall. The reason is because the Gi actually absorbs your chakra into itself and stores it until it is released one of two ways depending on how you take it off." Jagaa gave a slight grimace. "I had to sleep a lot more than I wanted to in order to get my chakra back each night, but by draining your chakra to almost nothing and letting it build back up with a good nights rest every day, your reserves start to increase rather quickly. Though I still don't have nearly as much chakra as Naruto, my maximum capacity has almost tripled."

"Are you insane?" Kakashi almost yelled. "Wearing something like that could be fatal. What if you didn't take it off soon enough and passed out from chakra exhaustion? That thing would continue to drain away your chakra until you didn't even have enough to keep your heart beating."

Jagaa looked at Kakashi for a minute before grinning impudently. "What fun is life if you can't put it on the line for stupid reasons now and then?"

Kakashi sighed and lowered put his hand to his head. '_I really need to get more involved with their training to prevent these types of things._' He thought ruefully.

"Why the hell didn't you tell us you were wearing something like that?" Naruto yelled angrily. He had to admit, he was a little irritated that his brother had been using such a dangerous training tool without letting any of them know.

Jagaa shrugged. "You never asked."

Naruto gaped at him for a second before grabbing his hair in frustration. "Damn it! I hate it when he does that!"

"Hold on a second." Kurenai cut in. "If what you've told us is true, then why did your chakra increase so much. Even if it was being restricted, you said that it gets drained through the day as well, whether you use chakra or not. Since it's about the middle of the day, are you saying that what you have now is only _half_ of your total chakra capacity?" Kurenai's question made many people gape in disbelief as they looked at Jagaa for an answer.

"I wish," Jagaa said with a short laugh. "But no, this is as high as I can go right now."

"Then what happened?" She asked.

"I said it earlier. There are two ways of taking off that thing." Jagaa said and held up two fingers for emphasis. "The first way is what I like to call 'Training Removal'. There is a seal that you have to rub a certain way before you take it off so that when you do it will just disperse the stored chakra into the surrounding air. The second way is what I call 'Battle Removal". It's when you do like I did now and simply remove it and toss it aside. Instead of dispersing the stored chakra into the air, it actually gives it back to you so that you can fight at your maximum strength. It's sort of like a safety measure in case you get caught near the end of the day by an enemy. Or, at least that's more or less how Kyougu described it. I have no idea how it actually does it though."

"Hold it, _my father_ sold you that!" Tenten yelled in disbelief.

"Exactly were the hell else would I have bought it." Jagaa deadpanned, making a slow blush start to creep up the girl's cheeks.

"Sh-shut up, you kunai throwing invalid!"

"Kunai throwing inva…?" Jagaa's eyebrows shot up and he pointed at Tenten accusingly. "That's a low blow Mousey! That's a seriously low blow!"

Tenten smirked victoriously. "Serves you right."

Jagaa growled at the girl before glaring at the rest of the spectators through his glasses. "I answered all your damn questions! Now do you mind if I get back to my fucking fight before our judge dies on us!" Hayate coughed slightly after the Jagaa's outburst but remained silent. The rest of the spectators just nodded, a little worried about pushing the scarred boy any further.

Jagaa turned back to Lee and gave him a somewhat apologetic smile. "Sorry about that, but since they're all done with the questions for now, what do you say we get this show back on the road?" After that he jumped back a good distance from Lee and stood waiting.

Lee let a small smile of excitement come to his face as felt Jagaa's chakra pressure. "Yes, let us do just that."

Both boys blurred and reappeared in the center of the room as their fists slammed into each other, making a minor shockwave. Again they blurred before they appeared at the corner of the room, Jagaa's knee raised and blocking Lee's kick to his ribs. Another flash of movement and they were on the other side of the room, Lee blocking a punch to his face from Jagaa as Jagaa blocked the knee to his gut, before they blurred away again. The two Genin continued to blur in and out of sight as more minor shockwaves were created from their clashing attacks.

"That's incredible!" Kurenai said in amazement.

"What the hell are these two?" Asuma didn't even notice that his cigarette had fallen out of his mouth.

Gai was in a stunned silence. Even though Jagaa was using a large amount of chakra to do it, he could barely believe that Jagaa was managing to match Lee's speed.

"Lee still has a decent speed advantage," Kakashi said as if reading Gai's thoughts, "But Jagaa's making up for it with his greater experience."

At that moment Jagaa came into sight sliding on his back before he flipped backwards onto his hands to avoid Lee's kick (that did considerable damage to the ground) before launching his own kick that Lee ducked before blurring away again with Jagaa hot on his heels.

"So, all the rumors about him are true then?" Asuma asked.

Kakashi shrugged. "I haven't heard all the rumors so I don't know. What I do know is that he has far more combat experience then someone his age should. I also have a theory that he may have…"Kakashi was cut off as he dodged to the side as Lee flew past him and slammed into the wall.

Lee rolled out of the way in time to avoid the punch that followed him and spun to throw a roundhouse kick which Jagaa ducked making his foot impact the wall, sending debris flying. Jagaa's elbow went for Lee's head but the boy dodged by leaning back and blurring away. "Damn this fucker's fast!" Jagaa said to no in particular before blurring after him.

Kakashi cleared his throat and continued as if nothing had happened making everyone give him an incredulous look as they dusted off some of the debris that had landed on them. "Like I was saying, I think Jagaa may have even been using chakra before he even knew what it was. It would explain why someone at the age he was could have survived the type of situations he was in. He was unconsciously enhancing himself."

"So he must have had some sort of training that he can't remember." Sasuke said thoughtfully and Kakashi nodded.

"Hold on a minute!" Tenten said irritably. "You all keep saying things about how much experience he has, and how he may have survived and other things. What the hell has his life been like?"

Sasuke, Naruto, and Ino didn't say anything as they continued to watch the fight leaving Kakashi to turn to the bun haired girl. "It's not our story to tell, but if you want some idea of it, just look at his body."

Tenten remembered all the scars she had seen on him and realization slowly worked into her mind. She didn't have time to think too much on it before she was pulled out her thoughts.

"Ha, Lee got him!" Gai yelled triumphantly and pointed.

Jagaa was flying through the air with his back to the ground when Lee appeared beneath him, mimicking his appearance. The bandages on his arms started moving as if to bind Jagaa and make him vulnerable to Lee's attack. However Jagaa had no intention of letting that happen.

"Fuck That!" Jagaa yelled as he twisted in the air and drove his fist into Lee's chest and sending him spiraling down to the ground, landing hard.

"How did he…?" Gai started in disbelief.

"Did you really think after watching this fight so far that he would be stunned enough by the first hit of 'Omote Renge' for Lee's bandages to get around him? Jagaa's not stupid, you know." Kakashi said in a calm voice. "Also, I'm sure you realize that his using that technique was probably one of the worst things he could have done in a fight against someone like Jagaa."

"What do you mean, Sensei?" Ino asked.

"Take a look." Kakashi pointed to Lee who was slowly trying to stand. His constant wincing and grunting showing the large amount of pain he was in. "The Omote Renge is a Kinjutsu that opens the first celestial gate and allows one to use their muscles to one hundred percent of their capability. However, the human body isn't supposed to work that way, so the technique creates an enormous strain on it and injures the user. Right now, Lee's body is being wracked by pain. If he tries to fight Jagaa in that condition…" He didn't need to finish.

Jagaa walked closer to Lee as he finally got to his feet. He was breathing heavy and a grimace graced his face as he valiantly held his ground. "No one has ever stopped my Omote Renge like that before, Jagaa-san. You are truly an impressive fighter."

Jagaa just shrugged. "I'm crazy, not stupid. There was no way I was letting you wrap me up in those bandages. Even an idiot would have known that would be a bad thing." Jagaa's face took on a serious tone. "However, it's obvious that the attack you tried to use did some serious damage to your body, because I know my punch alone couldn't have done it. How do you plan to fight me now that you can barely move?"

Lee didn't say anything, so Jagaa continued. "I've enjoyed our fight so far, but it's over. You should give up now."

Lee's eyes were shadowed as he looked to the ground, a small frown on his lips. "Jagaa-san, my dream is to prove to the world that I can become an excellent ninja despite my inability to use either ninjutsu or genjutsu. I'm sure you can understand why I can't quite this fight. I must protect my way of the ninja." Lee looked up at Jagaa and his frown turned into a smile and his eyes spoke of his confidence. "You should also know, Jagaa-san, that in Konoha the lotus blooms twice."

Jagaa frowned a bit at Lee's confident and determined expression, but soon let out a smile of his own. "All right then, give me everything you got. Just remember, this is your last chance."

"You're right, Jagaa-san. Either way, this move will end everything." Lee's said seriously as he crossed his arms

"Gai, you didn't!" Kakashi said in alarm.

"Yes, I did." Gai said in a serious voice.

"You mean that boy can open more of the celestial gates and use Ura Renge?" Kakashi asked in disbelief. "How many gates can he open?"

"Five."

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked uncertainly. Neither he, Ino, or Sasuke had ever seen him look as worried as he was now.

On the floor, Lee crossed his arms in front of his face and a strong energy erupted around him shooting skyward like a pillar of wind. The power around him increased and chakra started to pour out of his body. His skin turned red and his veins started to swell, giving him a berserker-like appearance.

Jagaa's eyebrows rose over his glasses at the sight before him. '_Holy shit._'

"Jagaa, you have to forfeit this fight!" Kakashi yelled. "If this attack hits you, you may not survive!" Kakashi almost fell over the rail when he saw Jagaa's surprised yet curious expression become one of pure excitement and eagerness. '_Right. Forgot who I was talking to._' He thought with a sweat drop.

Neji still had his Byakugan activated and could see Lee's increasing chakra even better than anyone else, but that wasn't the only thing he saw. "Jagaa is pushing more chakra through his body. It looks like he's bracing himself for what's coming." He said out loud.

Kakashi looked from Neji, to Jagaa, to Lee, and then back to Jagaa. "I just hope it's enough." He said as he lifted his hitai-ate to better watch the fight. Sasuke, Ino, and Naruto could only nod. They were all worried to much about Jagaa to voice anything at the moment.

Tenten was staring between Jagaa and Lee with mixed feelings that she couldn't explain. The only thing she could get out of her almost random thoughts was the desire for both of them to make it through this in one piece.

"He's opened the third gate!" Kakashi said as Lee's power made another increase. "Is he going to make his move?"

"Not yet." Gai said as he watched.

"NOW, THE FOURTH GATE! WOUND GATE, KAI!" Lee's power made another huge increase and more chakra shot poured out of him.

'_Oh yeah, it definitely came back to bite me._' Jagaa thought as Lee crouched down.

"HERE I COME, JAGAA-SAN!" Lee shot of with so much speed and power the earth erupted beneath him. Jagaa had absolutely no time to react before Lee's foot smashed him under the chin and sent him into the air, causing an eruption of dirt and rock to fly everywhere.

"He's fast!" Kakashi said with widened eyes.

"Where are they? Where's Nii-san!" Naruto yelled.

"There!" Ino yelled and pointed out Jagaa as he came out of the cloud of dust.

Jagaa shook his head as he tried to clear it after the impact left his ears ringing. Knowing that it was completely impossible for him to even try to counter or defend himself he let out a calming breath even as he heard Lee yell.

"You're indeed tough, Jagaa-san! How about this!" Lee appeared in front of Jagaa and slammed his fist into his chest and sending him flying back only to appear again behind him and drive another fist into his back to send him flying another direction. Soon all that could be seen was Jagaa being pounded in every direction as his body flopped around like a rag doll.

"Was he knocked unconscious?" Tenten yelled as she saw Jagaa's completely limp body.

"No." Kakashi said in amazement. "I can still see the movement of the chakra he's forcing through his body, so he's still conscious. However, he's managed to completely relax his body in order to lessen the damage done by Lee's hits."

"That shouldn't be possible!" Kurenai yelled. "For someone to do that in the situation he's in would mean they had absolutely no fear of death!"

"You're right." Kakashi said simply causing Kurenai to gape at him.

Gai looked through the corner of his eyes at his masked rival. "You do realize what that means, Kakashi." Gai said seriously.

Kakashi watched Jagaa as he was continuously pounded through the air. "All too well."

"THIS IS THE END!" Lee yelled as he launched himself from the ceiling at Jagaa. "Fifth gate, the Forest Gate, KAI!" Lee slammed into Jagaa sending him flying towards the earth. Jagaa was jerked to a stop before he could impact and looked at his waist to see one of Lee's bandages wrapped around him and Lee holding it tightly in his left hand. With a powerful pull, Lee drug Jagaa back towards him and slammed both his right foot and hand into Jagaa's torso with as much power as he could. "URA RENGE!"

It was then that Lee felt it. He quickly looked at his arm and found Jagaa's hands gripping it tightly and pulling Lee along with him to the ground. Using the last bit of strength he had left, Lee pried his arm out of Jagaa's grasp and leapt away, but he knew it was too late. Jagaa had already managed to slow his rate of descent considerably. Another huge eruption of dirt and debris filled the room and Lee came rolling out of it and lay motionless on his back.

"NII-SAN!" Naruto cried out in fear for his brother as the cloud of dirt made it impossible to see what had happened to him.

The room was dead quiet as the dust finally started settle. When it finally cleared enough for them to see what was there, a state of shock filled the room.

Jagaa was in the middle of a completely destroyed section of the floor in a crouch and breathing raggedly. His left arm was dangling uselessly at his side dislocated, and a bone was showing through the flesh on his forearm. To everyone's amazement he started to stand up, his breath hitching in his throat from the effort. He was favoring his left leg leading them all to believe his right must be broken as well. His ribs were bruised beyond belief, making half his torso an ugly purple color. A good many small cuts were bleeding from where he had been cut or stabbed by some of the sharper rocks that he had been throw both through and into. Even his face had blood trailing down the left side from a gash above his eye.

It was the cut on his face that finally drew people's attention to a fact that had been unimportant before. His sunglasses were no longer there.

Slit pupils inside emerald irises surrounded by golden yellow were revealed foe everyone to see. However, where everyone else may have been shocked by the sight of Jagaa's unique eyes themselves, Ino, Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi were surprised by the look in them. A look they really hadn't wanted to see again for a long while.

They were cold, hard, and dangerous. No trace of his usual humorous and sarcastic nature was present. It was as if his eyes themselves were telling the story of his bloody past. They were the eyes of a seasoned killer, and they were focused directly on Lee.

It was at that moment that Naruto realized something, as Jagaa stood scarred and bleeding with his deadly eyes. There was a good reason his brother had been known as a demon.

"I'm impressed, Lee. That was an incredible attack. To be honest, I really have no idea how I'm alive right now." Jagaa said, his tone much darker than anyone had ever heard it before. "However, I _am _alive, and you can no longer fight. I indulged you once, I won't do it again. If you rise and try to fight me in the state you're in, you will regret it." His eyes narrowed dangerously on the struggling boy.

Lee had managed to fight his why to all fours, and painfully raised his head taking in Jagaa's bleeding and broken appearance. "I may be in no condition to fight, Jagaa-san, but the same can be said for you. Neither of us will be able to contin…" Lee was cut off by a loud popping noise as Jagaa forcefully rolled his left shoulder back into place.

Without pause, Jagaa reached across with his right hand and grabbed where the bone was poking through on his left. With a grunt of pain he twisted and pushed his bone back into place with a loud snapping sound. He moved his left arm around a bit to test it before reaching down with both hands for his right leg. He twisted it slightly before striking it and causing another loud snap as the bone was forced back into place. When he was done with that he stood with his full weight distributed evenly between his legs and gave Lee a dangerous look. "If you ever want to take me out of a fight, you'll have to kill me to do it."

Lee was to busy trying to fight down the sickened feeling he got from watching Jagaa put his bones back into place to answer.

'_He's using his chakra to hold the broken bones together and allow him to fight._' Neji saw in shock.

"Is this guy even human?" Kankuro asked in fear as Jagaa stood solidly, his blood still flowing and his eyes intense. No one responded as they all stared at the frightening sight.

Lee face was still ashen from what he had seen, but slowly he tried to stand even as unimaginable pain wracked his body. He was almost to his feet when Jagaa spoke again.

"Don't stand up, Lee. This fight is over. I should have finished it the first time, but I decided to give you another chance. I already told you, I won't do that again." As he spoke, a fair amount of his killing intent started filling the room, causing many people who weren't at least Jounin level to pale. Gaara though was looking murderous as he realized exactly who it had been that had stopped him earlier. The intensity may have been different, but the feeling was the same.

As Lee felt the effects of Jagaa's killing intent and stared into his cold eyes, he almost dropped to his knees and surrendered. Before he could though, he saw Gai standing on the balcony, watching him with both concern and pride in his eyes. It gave him the motivation to continue to rise, despite his certainty that Jagaa would indeed follow through on his promise to make him pay the price for it. He knew that this was something he had to do, and so he continued to rise.

'_This is ridiculous, he's still able to stand after doing the Ura Renge._' Kakashi thought before turning his eyes to Jagaa as well. '_To be able to push through the type of pain these two are in, this is ridiculous._'

"Gomenesai, Jagaa-san, but I can not do that." Lee finished rising and slowly put his left hand behind his back while raising his right in front of him in his standard taijutsu stance. "This is my nindo, and I will continue to abide by it until I die. No matter what the cost." His eyes spoke of such unbridled determination that for a moment, Jagaa was reminded forcefully of Naruto.

Jagaa's eyes softened slightly as he looked at Lee's determination before he closed them and let out a slow breath. "I see." He said almost regretfully as he reached to his waist and removed something before tossing it to the side. A clank of metal sounded as the black object hit, and a blood red Konoha symbol could be seen on it. "In that case, for the remainder of this match, I will not fight as a Konoha Shinobi, and I'll show you something from my life before Konoha."

Jagaa's eyes snapped open even fiercer than they had been before. "I'll show you _why_ I was known as the 'Demon of the Darkness'."

Lee didn't even have time to think before Jagaa's fist was rammed into his stomach with brutal force. He started to hunch over from the blow when his head was grabbed and thrown into the knee that was coming from below. A vicious punch to each side of his face came as he straitened from the force of the knee, before another fist was driven into his gut making him double over again. This time instead of a knee to the face, an elbow slammed into the middle of his back, slamming him brutally into the ground and making him cry out in pain. Jagaa kicked the fallen boy under the ribs, actually picking him up off the ground before pulling his leg back up and around and slamming his heal into the back of Lee's head sending the broken boy face first back into the stone floor. Reaching down, Jagaa picked Lee up be the back of his shirt and pulled him up so that they were face to face. With no mercy in his cold eyes, Jagaa drew back his fist.

Gai was gripping the rail so tight that he was bending the metal as he watched his favorite student being mercilessly beaten with tears shining in his eyes.

Kurenai's eyes were closed and her head turned away as she tried to block out the sound of Lee's agonized cries.

Shino, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Asuma could only stare in silent horror.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Ino, had tears in their own eyes as they watched Jagaa. Even Kakashi's eyes were sad. They had never wanted to see this side of him again, but they knew they had to watch. They had to accept him for what he was. Both the good…and the terrible.

Gaara watched next to his pale siblings with something close to awe as Jagaa continued to attack Lee. Gone for the moment was his hatred for the one who had stopped him as he continued to watch in morbid fascination.

Tenten's mind was blank as she stared with uncomprehending eyes as her teammate received blow after brutal blow. This couldn't be the same Jagaa she had met less than three months ago. This couldn't be the boy that called her 'Mousey' and pulled out her hair ties just to annoy her. It couldn't be the one that always teased her and flirted with her with that mischievous smile that he always wore. Slowly she sank to her knees and stared watched through the bars as Jagaa never let up his vicious assault. '_Somebody tell me this is all some sort of sick joke!_' She felt tears welling up in her eyes as she prayed to anybody to wake her up from her nightmare. '_Please!_'

Jagaa grabbed Lee's shoulders and rammed his knee into his gut before shifting his arm and driving an elbow into his chin. Lee reeled back wards and started to fall, but Jagaa grabbed one of his legs and with a twist of his body sent Lee flying at the wall with a brutal force. Lee hit hard and screamed in pain. His body had started to fall forward when Jagaa slammed his elbow on last time into Lee's stomach with such force that the wall behind Lee cracked like a giant spider web.

Blood erupted from Lee's mouth and his eyes glazed over as he finally fell into merciful unconsciousness. Jagaa stepped to the side and watched Lee fall, his eyes never losing their cold appearance. Lee hit the ground with a dull thud and lay unmoving as silence filled the room.

Hayate quickly ran over to Lee and put his fingers to his throat to check for a pulse. He was relieved when he felt it beating weakly but knew that the boy needed medical attention quickly and signaled the waiting medic nins. Once he saw them moving, he glanced up at Jagaa. The boy's unique eyes were no longer cold and hard, but now seemed tired and somewhat resigned. Letting out a sigh, Hayate held up his hand at Jagaa. "Winner, Jagaa."

A rush of air made Jagaa look up to see Maito Gai standing directly across from him, his eyes hard, but Jagaa stared back into his eyes unflinchingly. The two of them stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, but was really only a few seconds. Then to the confusion of everyone but a select few, Gai gave Jagaa a nod before kneeling down next to his student as the medic nins rushed over.

Jagaa looked at Gai's kneeling figure for a moment more, the turned to walk away. As soon as he did, he was stopped cold as he found himself staring straight into a pair of chocolate brown eyes. For the briefest moment Jagaa felt something pass through him, but the feeling was gone so fast that he didn't bother trying to figure out what it was as he stared into Tenten's accusing eyes.

Tenten didn't know why she stood there now. She knew she wanted something, but what? Her emotions were running to rampant for her to decide on the exact reason she was standing in front of him. So her mind started focusing on the one thing that she could recognize, the anger she was feeling at what he had done to Lee. "Why?" She asked in a low voice. "Why did you do that to him?"

Jagaa made no movement, nor did he say anything. He simply continued to stare back at her with eyes that held no regret or remorse for what he had done.

Tenten felt her anger start to rise at his silence. "How could you do that to him?!" She yelled. Still Jagaa did nothing and Tenten's anger exploded.

The slap reverberated through the silent room. "ANSWER ME DAMN IT!" She yelled, her hand still extended from the strike. Her eyes were burning, her mind was confused. She wanted answers so badly, but she couldn't get them.

Jagaa stood with his eyes closed and his head turned to the side slightly. When he opened them, they looked exactly the same as before, but Tenten thought she saw a flash of something that made her heart tighten for reasons she couldn't understand. However, she had finally realized what she had really wanted to know.

"Who are you?" Her voice broke slightly as she asked.

Jagaa still said nothing as he looked at her with expressionless eyes.

Then, just like that, he closed his eyes again and walked past her, still never saying a word. Tenten's eyes widened in disbelief. She wanted to stop him, to yell at him, to slap him again, to do anything it would take to get him to say at least one word to her. More than anything she wanted to him to show her that somehow he was still the same person she had known, but she couldn't find the strength to do so. Slowly her face dropped to the floor and hung in defeat, unwanted tears falling down her cheeks as Jagaa silently walked away from her.

**A/N:** So, when I had finished writing it, I looked back to where Jagaa and Lee's fight started and where it ended, and went. "WHERE THE HELL DID ALL THAT COME FROM!" Seriously, that was _way_ longer than I thought it would be. Well I hope it was worth it.

Now, on to other matters, you see, I have a small problem. I may not know _exactly_, _for sure_, who I want to pit against each other for the main matches. It's not that I can't think of ones I like, far from it in fact, it's that I can think of _to many_ that I like for several different people. I just can't decide.

So, I decided to ask you all if you had any matches that you would like to see. I don't care if you PM me or put it in a review, but I really need help cause I'm completely stuck on this one. Oh, also remember that one person is going to have to fight twice since there were eleven people who passed.

If this doesn't work, I may have to resort to pulling names out a hat to decide. I wonder how well that would work out.


	16. The Stage Is Set

**A/N: **Wow, this took longer to write than I thought it would. Oh well, it's out now. Enjoy.

By the way, my betais going to college now on top of being injured in an accident recently so this chap has not been beta'd. I don't know if this will be a normal thing or if BainDarkblade will be able to take up the job again once he has healed and settled in. If not, then you will just have to live with my mistakes wont you. I'm hoping he wont have to retire, but if he does, I just want to say 'Thank You' now for all the help he has given me.

Now that you have been warned of impending mistakes. On with the show.

**Disclaimer:** If I were to go out and buy a few Naruto DVDs, would I be able to say I own Naruto then? No? Oh fine. I don't and never will own Naruto. Happy now?

**Chapter 16:** The Stage is Set

Naruto, Ino, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Sakura, Shino, Neji, Kankuro, Temari, Gaara, and Jagaa all stood in a line in front of the aged Hokage as the final victors of each of their individual matches. On the ledges the Jounin Senseis, as well as Tenten who had been the only one to lose her match that without being hospitalized, looked on. Tenten's eyes were hard and unforgiving as she they burned into Jagaa's silent form.

Jagaa was once again wearing his sunglasses, that had been found unbroken behind the giant statue. He had not put either his hoodie or the Gi back on after his fight, leaving his heavily scarred torso exposed. He had also not put his sword back on his back, choosing to hold the sheathed blade in his left hand. The medic nins had been able to close his minor wounds and reconnect his bones to the point he didn't need to use chakra anymore to stand. They had wanted him to go to the hospital for more extensive treatment, but the rather intimidating glare he gave them quelled anymore discussion on the matter. He hadn't spoken a word since his fight with Lee and his face had remained impassive. Now he stood at the very end of the line, apart from the rest of the Genin.

As they stood waiting for the Hokage to speak, the other Konoha Genin, as well as the three Sand Genin, could be seen taking glances down at the scarred boy, each one with different feelings and emotions running through their mind.

The one who looked the most though, was Naruto. From his face, it was extremely difficult to know what he was thinking when he looked at his older brother. The only thing really noticeable, being the small amount of confusion that would come to his eyes when he did.

Sarutobi looked at each of the faces of the Genin before him, a small proud smile on his face. "You have all done very well to have gotten this far. Now, before I explain the final exam there is something I would like you all to do." The old man turned and faced Anko who was holding a cardboard box with a hole in the top. "Please take one of the pieces of paper from the box that Anko is holding."

"I'll come to each of you in turn so only take one." Anko said and walked up to Naruto. Naruto took his slip out and opened it to reveal the number eleven written in large letters. Anko continued to move down the line letting each Genin take a slip of paper in turn. When she got to Jagaa a huge grin spread across her face and her voice took a tone like that of an excited child. "I absolutely _loved_ your fight, Jagaa-chan!"

Jagaa made no comment or any real reaction to her statement, but as he took out the last slip of paper from the box a ghost of a smile graced his lips. Anko seemed to notice it and grinned wider before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before walking away, swinging her hips provocatively. Jagaa's smile widened ever so slightly as he shook his head at the plum haired woman's antics but the second he stopped all trace of the ghostly smile had disappeared.

"Now, if you would please all say the number you picked." The Hokage asked.

One by one the Genin said their numbers out loud, making it the first thing Jagaa had said in a while. Once all the numbers had been listed the Hokage turned back to the assembled Genin. "We will now show you your match ups for the tournament."

Beside him, Ibiki turned a clipboard over and showed the brackets for the main tournament. Gaara was number one, but his line showed that he would not be fighting in the first round. Instead he would be fighting the winner of the first match in the second round. Gaara almost growled at that. He did _not _like the fact he would have to wait so long to kill someone.

After Gaara's name, the matches followed.

_Hyuuga Neji Vs Uchiha Sasuke_

Sasuke smirked widely as soon as he saw who he would be fighting. He would pay the arrogant Hyuuga back a thousand fold for what he had done to Hinata.

Neji also felt a good deal of satisfaction at the match. He was looking forward to humiliating the Uchiha prodigy. However, on top of his satisfaction, was an amazing amount of relief. Though he would never admit it to anyone, the thought of facing Jagaa after watching the scarred boy's fight with Lee actually frightened him.

_Temari Vs Aburame Shino_

Temari also felt a good deal of relief at her match. She had already been afraid of Jagaa after he rescued that bun haired girl she was fighting. After watching his match with the green guy, she would have given up as soon as she saw her name next to his.

Shino just hoped that this girl wouldn't run away at the first sight of his bugs. Despite his cool exterior, it did hurt slightly that someone would be afraid of him and his bugs like that.

_Yamanaka Ino Vs Haruno Sakura_

Ino's smirk could have rivaled Sasuke's as she imagined how easy her fight with Sakura would be. It was taking everything she had not to start gloating right there.

Sakura felt dejected. She was already certain she couldn't beat any one of the other Genin, but to have to lose to Ino was just a kick in the face to her destroyed pride.

_Kankuro Vs Nara Shikamaru_

Kankuro didn't think much of his opponent. As far as he was concerned the lazy looking boy had just gotten lucky for fighting such an easy opponent earlier.

Shikamaru just thought it was 'Troublesome'.

With all the other matches decided, that meant only one thing and many peoples eyes widened at the confirming words.

_Uzumaki Naruto Vs Jagaa_

Naruto's eyes were the widest of them all as he stared at the words in a state of shocked disbelief. '_I have to fight Nii-san?_' Naruto didn't want to admit that after seeing his brothers fight with Lee that he was slightly afraid of his older brother. It had been bad enough to see his ruthless and cold blooded killing of all of Gatoh's thugs on the bridge, but after seeing what he could do to a fellow Genin from his own village. Naruto turned his eyes down the line to where Jagaa stood. The older boy's face was unreadable, and he made no indications on what he might be thinking about the turn of events. Naruto actually found himself hating those Kami damned sunglasses that his Jagaa's eyes from view.

Sasuke and Ino were looking between the two blonde boys anxiously. To think that the fist people they would have to fight in the tournament would be _each other_. They were worried, there was no denying that.

'_First the two Hyuugas and now those two. It seems that this exam has been somehow destined to pit family against each other._' Sarutobi thought sadly before clearing his throat and cutting into anyone everyone's thoughts. "Now that we have the match ups, the final event of the Chuunin exams will be held in exactly one month. This will give you time to form strategies and new techniques for the tournament, as well as give the important dignitaries and other observers the time they need to arrive." The old man looked through the faces of each Genin again with a slight smile. "Normally I would simply dismiss you from here so that you could go about your training, however due to certain circumstances," The Hokage's eyes strayed over to Jagaa as he spoke. "I would like _all_ of you to go to the hospital and get a quick check up before you separate for the month. No sense in letting injuries go untreated…or _half_ treated." Sarutobi's eyes were practically daring Jagaa to challenge him on his order, earning him a barely audible growl from the scarred boy.

Sarutobi pretended not to hear and finished his speech. "I wish you all luck in the coming tournament. Remember that you carry not only your own, but the pride of your village in this exam. I expect great things out of all of you and I will see you all in one month." With one last smile, the old man put his pipe back into his mouth and started walking away.

"All right Maggotts!" Anko yelled. "You heard the Hokage! You're all going to the hospital for an examination even if I have to _drag_ you there!" Jagaa looked like he was about to make a run for it, when three snakes shot out of the purple haired woman's sleeve and wrapped themselves around him tightly.

"You weren't thinking of leaving now, were you Jagaa-chan?" Anko said in a sweet voice as she proceeded to reel the boy in.

Jagaa's head drooped dejectedly as he started to pout. "I knew I should have run sooner."

Seeing the same boy who had seemed so ruthless and cold blooded less than ten minutes ago now pouting like a scolded child seemed to destroy the tense and fearful atmosphere regarding the boy. Naruto was the first to start laughing, followed by Ino, then Sasuke. Soon the room was filled with the laughter of Genin and Jounin alike as Jagaa was drug away to the hospital by a smirking Anko.

X X X X X

On that day in the hospital, a historical discovery was made that would forever alter many peoples perception of the world around them. What was this incredible discovery? It was one that many would be more than a little shocked to learn.

Jagaa, the one known as the 'Demon of the Darkness', the fourteen year old boy that had more blood on his hands by the time he was ten than many ninja do in their career. The boy who could set his own bones and relocate his own shoulder to continue a fight without so much as a grimace…

Was afraid of needles.

Why the doctor had decided Jagaa needed a shot was as of yet unknown. However the results were known very well. As soon as Jagaa had seen the syringe in the doctor's hand he had drawn his sword and quickly sliced the hated object in half before backing into a corner with his blade held menacingly in front of him and declaring that the next person to come near him with a needle was going to lose a limb.

Again, it is unclear why the doctor was so set on giving Jagaa a shot, but decided to call in reinforcements in the form of Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, and five ANBU in an effort to restrain the boy.

Now, it has long been said that there is nothing as powerful as a woman filled with a 'Righteous Female Fury'. However, on that day, a new superpower was discovered.

It took nearly thirty minutes for the sounds of the elite ninja trying to wrestle down the violent boy to come to an end. The final results being five ANBU with severe concussions, Kakashi suffering from a throbbing jaw and minor chakra exhaustion from being forced to expose his Sharingan, Asuma having his own package of cigarettes forcefully shoved into his mouth as well as very sore shins from Jagaa's kicks, Kurenai having to run out of the room trying to cover herself after Jagaa slashed off her cloths (What could he say, he's an opportunist), four nurses turning in their resignations while crying, and two doctors that became patients in their own place of work.

And Jagaa _still_ didn't get the shot.

How this unbelievable feat was accomplished may forever be shrouded in mystery. After all, there was no way that three elite Jounin and five ANBU were going to willingly share how they had simultaneously had their asses handed to them by a _Genin_ with a needle phobia.

Now Jagaa stood in the hallway with the rest of his team. His right hand firmly planted on the hilt of his sword that was still being held in his left hand and his head looking left and right constantly as if he was expecting an army of white clad men armed with syringes to attack him at any moment.

"Bastard doctors and their damn needles! No way in the nine hells are they putting one of those things in me! Nu uh! Not happening! I'll die fighting, damn it!" The scarred boy muttered as he continued his vigil.

Naruto, Ino, and Sasuke were finding it harder and harder not to think of his fight with Lee as some sort of bad dream. Ever since he had been drug to the hospital by Anko, it seemed as if his sarcastic and teasing personality had come back full force. He had even tried flirting with the plum haired woman in an attempt to escape her grasp, to which she would just smile and say they could do all that after he had gone to the hospital. In the end, he had given up his attempts to escape but his mood had been brighter ever since. Well, before the doctor tried to give him a shot that is.

"Why are you so afraid of getting a shot?" Sasuke asked curiously and looked pointedly at Jagaa's scars. "You've obviously had a lot worse than that done to you. A little needle prick shouldn't even phase you."

"You'd think so wouldn't you." Jagaa shrugged making the other three sweat drop.

"Oh, there you are princess." A voice came from down the hall. The four Genin turned their heads to see the dark blonde form of Ino's father, Yamanaka Inoichi making his way towards them.

"Hi, Daddy!" Ino said cheerfully as she ran over and gave her father a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I heard that my little princess made it to the finals in the Chuunin exams. So I came by to ask if you wanted some more in depth training in our family techniques."

"I hope you don't plan on teaching her any of your bad habits." Jagaa said in a dark tone, stopping his continued vigil and focusing on the man. Naruto, Ino, and Sasuke could only wonder just what he was talking about.

Inoichi sighed in a slightly defeated way. "Do you ever plan on forgiving me?"

"I'll get back to you on that."

Inoichi sighed again before his eyes hardened slightly. "You don't have a problem with me training her do you?"

"You're her father." Jagaa said evenly. "It's not like _I_ can teach her your family techniques. It's actually probably a good idea since she hasn't really been able to use them that much lately."

Inoichi nodded. He was glad to see that even if Jagaa wasn't all that fond of him right now that the boy didn't let personal feelings get in the way of what was best for his team.

"Good to hear." He said before turning to Ino with a kind smile. "Say good bye to your teammates since you won't be able to see them while you're training for the tournament. I'll meet you back at the shop." As he finished he walked down the hall and disappeared around the corner.

Ino looked down sadly. She had already known that they would all have to slit away from each other for the month of training since they were all essentially enemies right now, but that didn't mean she liked it. She turned back to her three male teammates sadly. "I guess I won't be seeing you three for a while."

"Don't worry, Ino-chan." Naruto said with a reassuring smile. "A month will go by way quicker than you think."

Ino smiled at Naruto and looked at Jagaa and Sasuke, each one who had their own smiles. She nodded and turned to leave but suddenly stopped and the visible portion of her face contorted as if she was indecisive about something.

"Ino-chan? Is something wrong?" Naruto asked in concern.

At the sound of Naruto's voice, Ino's expression became determined. Turning around she quickly walked over to Naruto and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Ino was blushing heavily as she moved away from the shocked boy and smiled demurely. "I'll see you in a month, Naruto." Without waiting for a reply she turned and bolted down the hall and disappeared around the same corner her father had.

Naruto stood rooted to the spot as his face shone with a mixture of shock and bliss.

"That was unexpected." Sasuke said with a slight smile.

"Not really. I've been expecting it for while." Jagaa said lightly. '_I was sure she'd go for the lips though. I guess she's more shy than I thought._' Then a huge grin spread across his face and he turned to Sasuke. "Maybe if you go ask nicely, _Hinata_ will give _you_ a kiss."

Sasuke's face went scarlet. "I…she…we…we aren't…wouldn't…" He spluttered with nothing even resembling sense to his rambling.

Jagaa laughed victoriously at the state he had managed to put Sasuke in before starting to walk down the hall himself. "I'll see you both later. I've got some things to do before I figure out what I'm going to do for a month."

Naruto managed to snap himself out of his bliss induced stupor when he heard what Jagaa had said. "Wait a second Nii-san."

Jagaa turned back around and was surprised to see a set expression on Naruto's face. "There's something I need to talk to you about."

Jagaa looked at Naruto for a minute with an unreadable expression before he turned back around and started walking down the hall again. "I'll find you once I take care of some things. We can talk then." Putting his hand in the air as good bye, Jagaa disappeared down the hallway.

Naruto stared after him for a while before turning back around to see Sasuke looking at him curiously. "Care to explain what that was all about, Dobe?"

Naruto just waved his hand dismissively. "It's nothing, Teme. I just need to talk to him about something."

"Oh I see." Sasuke said in slightly mocking tone. "One of those 'Brothers only' conversations that I don't need to stick my nose into, huh?"

Naruto's face lit up with a huge grin before he started speaking like a toddler. "Ahh, is wittle Sasuke-chan feeling weft out?" Naruto spread his arms and started advancing on Sasuke. "Come here and give uncle Nawuto a BBBIIIIIIIGGGGGGG hug."

Sasuke got into a defensive stance and growled. "Naruto, I'm warning you! Drop the arms and back away slowly and I won't hurt you!"

"But Sasuke-chan, I don't want you to feel un-wuved." Naruto said with an evil gleam in his eye as he continued his advance. Sasuke started praying to any and every god in existence for something to save him from the insane blonde. His prayers were answered by a lazy voice coming from the room they were standing by.

"Am I interrupting something?" Kakashi asked.

For brief moment, Sasuke was tempted to hug his masked savior. That was until he realized that doing so would completely defeat the purpose of trying to avoid being hugged by Naruto. Also that it would be far more embarrassing to be the one giving the hug than to be the one being assaulted by the hug.

"Not really, Kakashi-sensei. I was just showing Sasuke that he didn't need to feel left out." Naruto smiled innocently.

"Uhm, okay." Kakashi said uncertainly. "Anyway, where did Jagaa go? I wanted to talk to him."

"He said he had some things to do before he decided what he was going to do for a month. You just missed him." Sasuke said mildly but his voice still held a slight relief to it.

"Oh, uhm, well I guess that's all right."

"What did you want to talk to him about, Sensei? I'm going to be meeting up with him later to talk to him myself. I could tell him if you want." Naruto said.

Kakashi looked uncomfortable. '_I guess it's now or never. I could've made Jagaa see my reasoning, but I don't think Naruto is going to be to thrilled with this._' Steeling himself he did his best to smile casually. "No, that's okay, Naruto. I was just going to tell him that I was going to be training Sasuke one on one for the next month." He mentally braced himself for the loud shout he knew was coming.

"Okay, I'll tell him." Naruto said calmly.

Kakashi almost fell face first into the floor and was staring at Naruto incredulously. "What? That's it? No yelling or indignant shouts of unfairness or favoritism?" Kakashi asked bewildered.

"Why would I?" Naruto asked curiously. "You obviously have your reasons. Besides, Sasuke has two strong people that he has to fight one after the other. He could use the extra training." Naruto's tone suddenly became menacing. "Besides, I want to see that Hyuuga asshole suffer for what he did to a sweet girl like Hinata!"

Sasuke's voice became (if possible) even more menacing than Naruto's "Don't worry, Naruto. He's going to."

For an instant, Kakashi had a mental image of the two boys dressed in black and wearing dark sunglasses. Jagaa's influence seemed to be getting stronger in his teammates. Kakashi wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad one. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Kakashi smiled at the two again. "Well, I'm glad that you're okay with it Naruto. I have to tell you though, since I was, uh…restraining, Jagaa, I haven't had time to find you someone to help you while I'm with Sasuke."

Naruto waved it off. "Don't worry about it Sensei. I'll find someone, and if nothing else I'll just train myself. I already know at least the basics of what I need to improve on if I'm going to have to fight Nii-san."

Kakashi smiled proudly behind his mask. He was really glad that this team had passed his test. All four of them were amazing kids.

Naruto's eyes suddenly filled with mischief and he turned to Sasuke and smirked evilly. "That does bring up a question though. Are you sure you want to be trained by someone who couldn't even handle one _Genin_ even with the help of two other Jounin and five ANBU, Sasuke?"

Sasuke's smirk was easily as evil as Naruto's. "You know, you're right. I had thought Kakashi-sensei was amazingly strong, but after today…" Sasuke shrugged and left the statement unfinished.

Kakashi was doing a wonderful impression of a deer in the headlights before he started spouting random defenses. "We…well…didn't want to hurt him…and…not full strength…painful shin kicks…crying nurses…" He stopped when he saw the _very_ amused expressions his two students were wearing and almost growled. '_I take it back! They're not amazing, they're evil! Pure evil!_'

"Just meet me at training ground seven in an hour!" Kakashi snapped at Sasuke before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

Both boys stared at the spot Kakashi had been for a moment before turning to each other. A second later both boys were on the ground holding their sides as they laughed hysterically.

X X X X X

Tenten made her way through the hospital halls with a bouquet of flowers in her arms for her injured teammate. She had gotten done with her examination a little while ago and immediately went to the hospital gift shop to buy them before making her way to Lee's room.

She knew that Gai was probably already there, and that Neji most likely wouldn't be, but she still wanted to show her support for her eccentric friend. He may have lost his fight with Jagaa, but he had sure as hell given it his all.

Tenten's step almost faltered when scarred boy's name passed through her mind and the confusing emotions she had felt when she confronted him started to rise within her again. She was angry at him, that she was certain of, but the reasons were becoming harder to understand. She was mad at him for what he did to Lee there was no doubt of that. What she couldn't understand though, was the gut wrenching feeling of betrayal she had. Why? Why did she feel like Jagaa had betrayed her? She had never really liked the guy. He teased her constantly, called her that ridiculous nick name, pulled her hair out of its buns, and just seemed to take pleasure pissing her off in general. There was no reason to feel anything but contempt for the boy.

Okay, so _maybe_ she had been _slightly_ entranced by him when they first met. After all she had never met anyone her age that could beat her in _any_ weapon as easily as he had with his sword. Also she would admit that she had felt a bit of heat rising in her loins when he was leaning over her and whispering huskily into her ear that day they had their next impromptu spar, but that was a natural reaction to that type of situation. As well was the _slight_ desire she felt when he was standing half naked on the arena floor. She was a healthy young teenage girl after all, so it was understandable that she might have _some_ attraction to his body. Then there were his eyes. Those intense, unique eyes unlike anything she had ever seen. Before they had gone cold and vicious, she could honestly say that she had been entranced by them.

Still, even if she could admit to herself that she did have a _little_ attraction to him on the physical level, it still didn't explain why seeing him act like that had left her feeling so angry, hurt, and confused.

A flash of green on the edge of her vision made Tenten look up and was surprised to see Gai leaning against the wall next to the door to Lee's room with a serious look on his face. He was so deep in thought that he failed to notice Tenten's arrival until the girl called his attention herself.

"Uhm, Gai-sensei?" She asked uncertainly.

Gai started slightly and turned his face to his bun haired student. "Oh, Tenten. I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were there." He said in a serious tone. Tenten instantly became worried. Not only had he failed to notice her, he was also not being his usually over exuberant self. The first thing that came to her mind was that Lee was in even worse shape than she thought. "Gai-sensei, is Lee okay? Did he get worse? Was it worse than they thought to begin with?" She asked rapidly. She almost smacked Gai when he smiled at her before she realized that was probably a good thing.

"Lee is fine, Tenten. His flames of youth burn as brightly as ever, and it is good to see that you care for your teammate." Gai's smile disappeared and was replaced by a small frown. "He just has a visitor that I am not sure if he is ready to see."

"Who…" Tenten started but was interrupted by the opening of the door. Turning to the new arrival, Tenten's blood felt like it turned to ice in her veins.

"Oh, hey there Mousey." Jagaa said when he saw who he almost walked in to. He looked down at the flowers in her hands and put on a large grin. "Ahh, that's sweet Mousey, but you really didn't need to bring me flowers."

Tenten's mind was stuck in over drive. The first thing she realized was that the main source of all her current mental and emotional confusion had somehow popped out of nowhere in the last place she would have expected to see him. The next thing her mind registered was the joking way he greeted her, as if he had completely forgotten every thing that had happened during his fight with her teammate and the events that followed. She was once again caught in a flurry of mixed emotions that made no sense to her as they were and did what anyone does in a time like that. She focused on the easiest emotion to grasp, anger.

Tenten glared at the boy in front of her with all the hate and loathing she could muster. "What are _you_ doing her? Did you come here to harass my teammate after you nearly killed him?" Tenten's tone could have frozen fire.

If Jagaa was affected by her icy voice, he showed no signs of it as he smirked and started walking away.

"JAGAA!" Tenten yelled the boys back. She couldn't believe that he was just walking away again. Just like before, the strange and unexplainable feeling of betrayal leaked its way into her chest but she drowned the emotion in the anger she felt in the fact that it looked like he had only come to torment the person he himself had put in the hospital.

A hand on her shoulder pulled her out of her thoughts and she looked back at Gai's serious face. "Let's go see Lee." He said in a low tone. Tenten couldn't seem to find her voice at the moment and could only nod in agreement.

Walking through the door in front of her green clad Sensei, Tenten found Lee sitting up in his bed staring out the window, his face serious, and seemingly lost in thought. He had a large amount of bandages on him and a cast was visible on his left arm, but he paid it no mind.

"Lee, are you all right?" Tenten asked as soon as she was near him. "What did that creep want?"

Lee came out of his thoughts and looked at Tenten in slight surprise. "Tenten-chan? I didn't hear you come in. It's nice of you to come visit me." Lee put on an award winning smile but Tenten could see that it was slightly strained and was instantly livid.

"I knew it! That bastard said something to you didn't he?! I'll kill that mother fu…"

"Tenten-chan!" Lee cut her off. "Please do not be so disrespectful to Jagaa-san!" Lee's voice was so firm and reproving that Tenten actually took a step back from the bedridden boy, the confusion clear in her eyes.

"What are you saying, Lee? Don't you realize what he did to you?"

Lee held up his left arm. "I am well aware, Tenten-chan, as I happened to be in considerable pain I am reminded of it every time I move." Lee's voice never lost its stern tone.

Tenten faltered under the disapproving look she was receiving from her teammate over speaking out against the person who had injured him. "W-why are you defending him? He put you in the_ hospital_! There was no reason for him to go that far!"

"Jagaa-san had his reasons, Tenten-chan."

Tenten's confusion became anger again in an instant. "What the hell kind of reasons could someone have for doing something like that? Does he really think he can make himself out to be the good guy after all this?"

Once again she was caught off guard when Lee smiled at her. "Far from it, Tenten-chan." He said with a laugh. "He actually threatened to kill me on several occasions during our conversation."

"B-but…then…why…how…" Tenten couldn't grasp what was happening. What could they have talked about that would make Lee defend someone who said they would kill them?

"Tenten-chan!" Lee said seriously, cutting off her babbling. "I don't think Jagaa-san really wanted me to tell you, or anyone else for that matter, what we discussed…but I think you need to know. It is only fair that if you are going to judge him, then you should at least judge him for his intentions, as well as his actions." Lee looked over to Gai as if seeking his approval of the decision, who in turn flashed a sparkling smile and gave Lee a thumbs up.

After some time, Tenten hesitantly nodded her own agreement to and pulled a chair up next to Lee's bed to listen.

X X X X X

Sasuke knocked softly before opening the door to Hinata's hospital room. He didn't know if she was awake or not and didn't want to disturb her if she wasn't. Fortunately, as soon as he opened the door he found her eyes open and looking at the door curiously. As soon as she saw Sasuke her eyes lit up happily. "Sasuke-kun. I-I didn't think you would be able to come today." She started trying to sit up but sit up but started coughing heavily as she did and Sasuke was instantly by her bed side.

"Don't try to sit up. You're still hurt." Sasuke said worriedly as he gently laid her back on her bed. Hinata smiled weakly at him and nodded. Sasuke fluffed the pillow a little behind her head before pulling the chair over and sitting down. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling much better, Sasuke-kun." Hinata said with her soft reassuring smile. "The doctors here are treating me very well."

Sasuke smiled as well, both out of relief that she seemed to be feeling better, and that she hadn't stuttered once in that statement. She had been improving (at least around him) in the month that they had been going to lunch together, but this was the first time she hadn't stuttered at all in something she said. As much as it hurt to watch it, Sasuke was glad that she had gained more confidence from her fight with Neji.

But that didn't mean he was going to let the arrogant Hyuuga off the hook. No chance in hell.

"I'm glad to hear that." He said sincerely. "But make sure you don't over due it. You were hurt pretty badly you know."

"I know, and I won't." Hinata's soft smile never left her face, and Sasuke could feel a steadily growing warmth in his chest at the sight.

Sasuke remembered the main reason he had come to see her instead of giving her the day to rest, and the warmth started fading before he sighed resignedly. "Hinata, I wish I could say that I'm just here to visit, but the truth is that I came here to tell you that I'm going to be gone for the next month to train with Kakashi-sensei." He saw the disappointment that flashed across the lavender eyed girls face and felt his heart clench. "But I'll try to get him to let me come by to visit." He added hastily and her eyes brightened slightly before dimming again.

"Th-that would be nice, but…I'll understand if you don't." She said quietly.

Sasuke didn't even think about it, he simply reached his hand out and gently grasped hers while looking straight into her eyes. "I will visit you. I promise."

Hinata's face softened and her eyes shone with happiness as she smiled.

Neither of them noticed the figure that had been watching them from the door way with a soft smile before leaving without a sound.

It took approximately ten seconds for the pair to realize that they had been staring intently into each others eyes, followed by another three to realize that they had been doing it while holding hands. Both blushing deeply they pulled apart and looked away embarrassedly from each other.

"So…um…I-I guess I'll see you soon." Sasuke muttered.

"Uh, yeah…I-m looking f-forward to it." Hinata smiled demurely through her flaming face.

Still embarrassed Sasuke turned to leave, and almost fell face first to the floor when he slipped on a small brown package. "What's this?" He asked as he picked it up and showed it to Hinata.

The girl looked thoroughly confused. "I-I don't know, but it looks like it's for us." Sasuke looked down at the package and sure enough the words 'To Hinata and Sasuke' were written clearly on the top.

"I wonder what it is." Sasuke said as he started unwrapping the package. It only took a few pulls before the paper fell away and Sasuke froze at the sight of a small orange book with a neatly folded piece of paper resting on top. Slowly, he reached down and picked up the paper unfolding it with one hand and reading it.

At the sight of Sasuke getting a small nosebleed and his face flushing a deep crimson, Hinata activated her Byakugan in order to read the note. She promptly passed out as soon as she did.

_Dear Sasuke and Hinata,_

_They say that practice makes perfect, and Hinata even has the bed to use. I recommend the technique on page 172. Just remember to either pull out before hand or use protection._

_Have fun you two._

At the bottom was a picture of a smiling demon in sunglasses flashing the 'V' sign.

People outside the hospital were surprisingly privileged to the sight of a small orange object being thrown out of one of the fourth floor windows before it was followed by a massive fireball and incinerated.

X X X

As he walked out of the Hospital, a flash of light caught Jagaa's attention and he looked up just in time to see an orange book get engulfed in flames and started laughing.

"What a waste." Jagaa said with a smile as he walked away. "I'm just glad that it wasn't _my_ copy."

X X X

Down at training ground seven Kakashi had dumped his Kunai pouch, pulled out all of his pockets, and was now shaking out his Jounin jacket. "Where is it!?" He yelled in panic.

At that moment, Kakashi was hit with a heart wrenching feeling of pain and loss and he immediately knew what it meant. His eyes widened in disbelief and loss before tearing up as he fell to his knees and threw his arms skyward. "NNNNOOOOOOOO!!!"

X X X X X

"Did you hear something?" Inoichi asked his daughter as the two of them stood in their back yard.

"Huh?" Ino said dumbly before she realized her father was speaking to her. "Uh, sorry Daddy, did you say something?"

Inoichi sighed and moved closer to his daughter so that he could get a better look into her eyes. "Okay, what's the matter, Princess? You've been spacing out ever since we left the hospital. Did something happen?"

Ino blushed slightly as she remembered kissing Naruto on the cheek before leaving the hospital. Even though that probably did count as something happening, and she wished that she could say that _that_ was what was distracting her, she knew that wasn't really it. What was distracting her right now was the memory of the conversation that her father had had with her older brother figure before he had left. Despite the fact that there had been no type of hostility from either of them besides Jagaa's less than friendly tone, it still had Ino worried that something serious may have happened between the two.

"Ino?" Her father's voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she looked into his concerned gaze. '_Screw it, I'll never find out if I don't ask._'

"Actually, Daddy, there's something I want to ask you." She looked her father dead in his eyes. "Did something happen between you and Nii-san?"

Inoichi looked at her questioningly for a moment before understanding came to his face and he sighed. "I suppose you mean that conversation the two of us had in the hospital?" Ino nodded and Inoichi sighed again. "Well, yes, something did happen, but it was really my fault for letting my curiosity get the best of me."

Ino's expression clearly said 'go on' so Inoichi did just that. "Do you remember a while back when you were asking me about that 'guy' you knew that acted strangely?" Ino's eyes widened so he took that as a yes. "Well it peeked my curiosity so I started keeping an eye out for anyone you might know that had those tendencies. It didn't take long to figure out who you were talking about though. Jagaa's very aura seemed to scream battle hardened the second I saw him."

Inoichi paused a moment and took a breath. "After I figured out who it was, I followed him around the village for a while. I knew for certain that I had the right person after he almost caught me in the act four times. No normal Genin should be that aware that he's being followed, especially by a Jounin. Anyway, after concentration more on staying hidden, I followed for the rest of the day and well into the night until he finally fell asleep in a tree just outside of the village." Inoichi paused knowing that Ino wasn't going to like the next part. "Once I was sure he was asleep, I used our family jutsu to enter his mind so I could look at his memories."

"WHAT!" Ino's scream could have been heard in Suna and cut through Inoichi's eardrums like a knife. "HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?!"

"I told you, I let my curiosity get the better of me." He said shamefully. "Even as I did it I knew it was wrong, but I just couldn't stop myself. I hadn't seen anyone his age who acted like that since the war and I wanted to know what he may have been through."

"So you saw then." Ino growled at her father. "You saw everything."

"Yes, I saw." Inoichi's voice became quite. "I saw his first memory in that village. I saw memories of people he's killed or have tried to kill him. I saw the memories of some of his…experiences…with older women in exchange for a place to sleep." Inoichi took a long deep breath and looked to the ground. "I also saw what happened to her." He couldn't bring himself to say any more than that, but he didn't need to. Ino already knew who he was talking about.

"You had no right." She whispered low and accusingly.

"I know. I've regretted it ever since." He said shamefully.

For a long time the two of them just stood in silence, one trying to reign in her anger and disappointment of her father, and the other wallowing in his guilt at what he had done.

"So?" Ino finally said. Her voice was still disappointed, but more controlled now. "How did he find out? Our jutsu is designed so that the one hit by it shouldn't know they had their mind entered."

"Something…happened." Inoichi explained evasively. "When it did, it woke him up and he found me. I was still being effected by what I had seen in his memories and couldn't control my face enough to hide my guilt. It didn't take long for him to figure out what I had done after that." Inoichi smiled somberly. "That's why he is so mad at me. He knows that I invaded his privacy and looked through his memories. That's what he meant by me not teaching you my 'bad habits'."

Ino nodded somberly. It definitely made sense. She doubted anyone would be too thrilled with someone who invaded their most painful memories like that, especially when painful memories were about all they had. There was only one thing left that she wanted to know.

"So what 'happened'?" She asked. "What was it that woke him up?"

Inoichi brought his head up and looked straight into Ino's eyes, his own looking very serious. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you that, Ino."

Ino was shocked. "What? Why?"

"Because, it's something that _he_ needs to find out for himself."

Ino felt her breath hitch in her throat. "Daddy, did you see his lost memories?"

Inoichi shook his head. "No, but I do know why he lost them. I can't tell you though because you might be tempted to tell him, and as I said, it's something he needs to discover for himself."

Ino wanted to argue, Kami knew she wanted to argue, but she knew it would be futile. If her father didn't want to tell her what he saw, then he wasn't going to. After all, she had inherited her stubbornness _somewhere_. "Fine." She grated out.

"I'm sorry, Ino." Inoichi said lowly. "For everything."

Ino sighed. It was really hard to stay mad at her own father. Especially when, if she were to think about it honestly, she may have done the same thing in a different situation. "It's okay, daddy, I forgive you. I'll even try to get Nii-san to forgive you to."

Inoichi smiled. "Thanks princess."

Ino's was about to smile, but something came to the front of her mind that made her stop. The question that had been worrying her for a long time but she had been to afraid of the answer to ask. She knew that she had to ask now or she may never do it.

"Daddy, what do you think of Naruto?" She tried to keep her tone casual, but a slight quivering in her voice gave her away.

Inoichi looked at his daughter curiously. "He's a good boy. He's a little loud sometimes, but not nearly as bad as he was before Jagaa showed up." Inoichi smiled slightly. "And he's pulled off some good pranks, you have to give him that."

"So you don't hold anything against him that he couldn't control? Or any _burdens_ he may carry?" Ino emphasized 'burdens' extra hard to get her point across.

Inoichi's eyes widened in surprise. "You know about _that_?"

Ino nodded. "He told us about it after Nii-san told us about his past."

"I see…" Inoichi put his hand to his chin thoughtfully. "I guess that would have been as good a time as any."

"Maybe, but I still want an answer." Ino said sternly. "Do you hate him for the burden he carries?"

Inoichi looked at his daughter for a long while, taking in her hard and protective eyes as she asked about the young demon container. Finally he smiled, "No, Princess, I don't."

He saw the relief flash through her eyes before they hardened again. "Really?"

"Yes, really. I have always understood that he only carries the demon and is in no way the demon himself. Unfortunately, not all of Konoha is quite that understanding. They can't move past the pain and fear they experienced during the Kyuubi's attack, and they use Naruto as their scapegoat." Ino looked a bit apologetic as he continued. "Your mother was the same way for a long time."

That was not something Ino had wanted to hear, but had always known it was a possibility. Deciding to wait before saying anything about it she listened as her dad kept talking.

"It wasn't until Naruto started going to the flower shop and she overheard some of your conversations before her opinion started to change." Inoichi smiled slightly. "Of course she may have thrown him out the first day he came, if she wasn't more scared of Jagaa than she was of him at the time."

"Do you mean because of what Nii-san did when that mob attacked?" Ino asked.

Inoichi nodded again, by now he wasn't surprised to hear that Ino even knew about that. "Well that was partially it, but mostly it was because of the _other_ incidences involving people who treated Naruto badly."

"Other incidences?" Ino asked. This was the first time she'd heard of this. "What other incidences?"

Inoichi scratched the back of his head and laughed a little nervously. "Well, the first one _I_ heard about was the store vendor who tried to sell Naruto rotten food. He was found in the middle of the floor of his store the next day, nearly dead after being force fed every piece of rotten food in or around the store, including things that had been in the dumpster for a few days. He was _very_ lucky to survive it."

Ino paled at that. She'd seen how some of that waist in store dumpsters looked. The thought of having it force fed to her was enough to make her want to throw up.

"Then there was the store owner who forcibly threw Naruto out after he went in to try to buy something. That night Jagaa showed up and beat the living hell out of him, through him through the shop widow, threw him _back_ through whatever glass hadn't fallen from the first throw, threw him out again this time through the closed shop door, shoved him into a garbage can, and finished by throwing _every_ piece of glass on the ground into the same can saying "You should always clean up your messes". The fact that he did the last part with a friendly smile on his face…well…scared the living shit out of people." Inoichi smirked slightly. "After spending three weeks in the hospital, the shop owner left the village and hasn't been seen or heard from since."

Inoichi looked to the sky in thought. "Then there was that time…"

"Enough!" Ino cried out sounding a bit desperate. "I don't think I want to hear anymore." She knew Jagaa had a ruthless streak, but doing things like that to people who hadn't _technically_ harmed Naruto with there actions. She shuddered to think what he would do to someone who _did_.

Inoichi smiled at his daughter in amusement. "There were only three more incidences after that, but that was all it took for the rest of the village to get the message. No one hurts Naruto, physically or mentally, and gets away with it. The villagers ended up being forced to do nothing more than glare at Naruto in passing because they were too afraid of Jagaa to attack him openly anymore." The blonde man smirked. "In fact, if you listen to some of the villager's conversations these days, they spend more time bad mouthing Jagaa than they do Naruto."

Ino smirked as well. "I don't think Nii-san has a problem with that at all." Her smirk turned to a slight frown though. "But how did he get away with attacking villagers in the open like that? Attacking a civilian is a serious crime for a shinobi."

Inoichi gave her a strange look. "Well for one, he wasn't a shinobi at the time."

Ino smacked herself in the head. Naruto had met Jagaa four years before any of them became genin. Of course all the _incidents_ happened early on. It also brought up the thought that Jagaa couldn't have been more than eleven when these things were happening so it made the peoples fear of him more understandable. If he was doing things like _that_ to people when he was only _eleven_, just think of what he would do to them _now_. She also knew that the law about Shinobis attacking villagers wouldn't stop him either. "Okay, I forgot about that, but still, he should have gotten in some sort of trouble."

"Well, to be honest I don't know how he got away with it." Inoichi said thoughtfully. "Personally think that Hokage-sama may have had something to do with it. After all, he has always disliked the way the villagers have treated Naruto. Letting Jagaa run free could have been his way of saying he was sick of it, and if he couldn't do anything about it than he would let someone else do it for him. But like I said, that's only my opinion."

Ino nodded with a small smile. "Of course."

Inoichi smiled. "Shall we get back to training then, Princess? You only have a month left before the Chuunin exams after all."

"Hai!" Ino said enthusiastically. She was feeling better than she had in months. Her dad didn't hate Naruto, her mom used to but was coming around, and if she was clever she may even be able to get Jagaa to forgive her father. Over all, it was a good day.

X X X X X

Naruto really didn't have any aim destination in mind. He just walked forward, taking random turns and dodging people aimlessly. At some point he had ended up in the forest but he had not stopped, simply continued on his way maneuvering through the trees. His mind focused on his thoughts.

He had no idea how far or long he actually walked until he almost fell into a stream. He only just managed to stop himself by grabbing the ground with chakra and swinging his arms backwards like a windmill before falling back onto his ass. "That was close." He breathed in relief.

"And extremely entertaining I must say." Jagaa's voice came from directly behind Naruto, startling him so bad that he almost jumped into the stream again. "DON'T DO THAT!" He cried out and clutched his chest as he glared at his brother. He almost didn't notice that Jagaa had forgone his black hoodie and was now wearing a black sleeveless shirt and his sword was once again on his back.

Jagaa laughed at his heavily breathing otouto and looked around. "I have to tell you, I'm proud of you. Of all places you could have gone for me to meet you, you chose the Onsen. Very nice." Jagaa eyed couple of women walking into one of the onsens wearing loose white robes. "Very nice indeed."

Near the wall that hid the women's baths from view, a white haired man was giggling while writing in a note book when a large shout drew his attention. He was about to yell at the person for interrupting his _research_, when he heard the older boys comment. Intrigued by the idea of such a young open pervert, he let his curiosity over come him and focused (a bit regretfully) on the pair of boys.

"Quit staring you pervert. I just happened to walk here while I was lost in thought, that's all." Naruto said indignantly as he brushed of the back of his blue pants.

Jagaa looked surprised. "You were thinking that hard. I didn't know you had it in you."

"Ha ha." Naruto said sarcastically.

"So, what were you thinking about that was so deep that you got lost in both your thoughts and direction?" Jagaa asked even as his eyes roamed to a new group of women.

"You know, even if I can't see your eyes I know where you're looking, and if you don't stop staring like a pervert I'm going to tell them all." Naruto threatened.

"I'm not staring like a pervert. I'm simply admiring beauty in all its forms." Jagaa saw one rather curvy woman walking with her friends. "Yes, such wonderful forms."

If Naruto hadn't been busy chastising his older brother and if Jagaa hadn't been so busy checking out the women, one of them may have noticed the large white haired man inching his way towards them with a note book in his hand. '_Hoho, that one was pretty good._' He thought as he wrote it down.

Naruto hung his head in defeat. "My brothers' a pervert." He mumbled.

"We all have our little problems." Jagaa shrugged. "So, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

Naruto straightened and looked up at Jagaa. "A couple of things actually. The first one isn't really important but I've been wondering about it since the start of the second exam. Just what's going on between you and the psycho lady?"

Jagaa tilted his head in confusion. "Psycho lady? Oh, you mean Anko." At Naruto's nod he smiled. "Well…she's great in bed, (This was followed by the sound of Naruto slapping him self in the face and the white haired man falling down in surprise before popping back up with a huge grin, not that either one of the blondes noticed the latter) but there's really nothing going on between us. If anything, I'd say were just friends." At Naruto's skeptical look Jagaa elaborated. "Anko's a thrill seeker, that's all. She was impressed that there was a guy my age out there who's as…shall we say, 'out going' as me. It excited her. Now that she's had her fun though, we may flirt a little bit here and there just for the hell of if, but I doubt much else will happen."

After some time of silent contemplation, Naruto nodded his acceptance. "So what else did you want to talk about?" Jagaa asked. "I'm sure you weren't just interested in my sex life."

The white haired man was scribbling in his notebook and giggling perversely while listening to the pair of blondes, still going unnoticed by both. '_I think I like this kid._'

"You're right, that's not what I really wanted to talk about." Naruto said before his eyes hardened on Jagaa. "Why did you do it, Nii-san?"

"You'll have to elaborate on that. There are a lot of things I've done." Jagaa said with a smirk.

"You know what I mean." Naruto growled. "Why did you do that to the fuzzy brows? The fight was over! He could barely stand much less fight! Why did you have to hurt him so badly when you could have just knocked him out or something?"

This stopped the white haired mans writing as he listened to the surprising turn the blonde boys' conversation had taken.

Jagaa's smirk faded and his face became serious. "It's who I am, Naruto. You should know that by now."

"No! I won't accept that!" Naruto declared hotly. "You didn't need to do that, and you know it!"

Jagaa's tone went frosty. "I _could_ do it, and I did. End of story. I am what they made me, after all."

"Don't give me that shit!" Naruto growled. "I know all about what it's like to be treated like a monster and called a demon, but what good does it do you to prove them _right_? There are better ways!"

"Better ways?" Jagaa's voice went from frosty to icy. "Like your way of letting them beat you, spit on you, insult you, or even try to kill even though you've never even raised your hand at them, much less hurt them. Do you have any idea how many people I've stopped from assassinating you in your sleep? And yet you sit here and tell me there are better ways."

"It won't be like that forever! I'll become the strongest ninja in the village and become the Hokage, and when do I'll show everyone how wrong they were! And I'll do it all the _right_ way!" Naruto was glaring at Jagaa by the end.

"Is that so?" It was all Naruto heard before Jagaa's fist was rammed into his gut. Saliva flew out of Naruto's mouth as he doubled over. "But how are you going to do that…when you can't even beat me." Jagaa's fist came away from Naruto's stomach and was brought crashing down on the back of his head, sending him rolling ten feet across the ground before he stopped. Curled up on the ground Naruto kept hacking and gasping in his attempts to get his breath back.

"Tell me, Naruto, why is it that if your way is so right and my way is so wrong that I'm stronger than you. Why is it that you are the one lying on the ground in pain…and not me?" Jagaa's cold voice never wavered as he stared down at his panting little brother.

The white haired man couldn't quite believe what he had just seen, or heard for that matter. What the hell had he stumbled across? His confusion sky rocketed when he heard a low chuckle coming from the boy on the ground.

"Heh heh, what are you talking about, Nii-san?" Naruto asked with his head down as he climbed to his feet. When his eyes rose to meet that of his brothers they were filled with defiance. "That didn't hurt a bit."

Jagaa smirked lightly. "Strong words…for a lie."

Naruto winced a little at that. It was impossible to bluff someone who could tell when you were lying. Even still, Naruto refused to show weakness now. "I don't care what it takes, Nii-san, I'll prove that your way isn't the right one. I'll become stronger than you without becoming the demon the village thinks I am. And when the time comes for our fight…" Naruto's eyes burned with determination as he locked his eyes with his brothers. With a confident and determined aura, he raised his right hand and made a fist at Jagaa. "I _will_ beat you!"

Jagaa's smirk softened ever so slightly at Naruto's proclamation. With out a word he turned and started walking towards the stream coming out of the Onsen.

"Nii-san!"

"One month." Jagaa said without looking back. "You have one month before our fight. I suggest you use it wisely." Jagaa stopped at the edge of the stream and looked back at Naruto. "On that day, show me if you truly have the power to back your claims." Jagaa smirked again, "Just remember, you're still a long way behind." With that, Jagaa calmly stepped into the stream and walked away across the water.

Naruto gaped at the casual display. '_When did he learn how to do that?_'

"Hoho, quite the talented brother you have there." A voice came from behind Naruto for the second time, startling the hell out of him yet again. Pulling out a kunai as he spun around, he found him self looking at an tall old man with long white hair looking over the water at the exiting Jagaa with an impressed expression. "To think, he's already getting action at his age. I wonder if he'd be willing to share the details with me."

Naruto's original plat to yell at the man for scaring him turned into the blonde face planting into the ground at the comment. "Why the hell would you ask something like that!?" He yelled at the stranger.

The old man looked at him with an annoyed expression. "What is that supposed to mean? It's only fair that he provide me some data I may be able to use for my writing since the both of you arguing ruined my research."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean by 'writing', and just who are you anyway?"

The old man got a huge grin on his face. "Why thank you for asking!" He declared with a fling of his long hair. "I am Myuokobu Mountain's monk of the frog spirits!" He put his leg back and threw his left arm in front of him while holding his right arm over his head in a strange pose. "Also Known as the great Frog Hermit, Jiraiya!"

Naruto sweat dropped. '_Just great, an Ero-sennin._'

"As for my writing." The newly announced Jiraiya proclaimed proudly and pulled out an all to familiar orange book. "I am proud to say that I am the author of this very book! Usually I peek to get inspiration for my writing, but I have a feeling that brother of yours could provide some useful info."

"Gahh, that's the book Nii-san and Kakashi sensei like to read!" Naruto yelled in horror.

Jiraiya grinned. "Ooh, so he's a fan as well. That's wonderful news since it means he may be more inclined to share his experiences in order to help the next issue." Jiraiya's grin became lecherous. "There's also the fact that if he can already get action at his age he could probably give me some great pointers."

Naruto jumped in front of Jiraiya and held up his arms to block his path. "You just stay away from my Nii-san!" He yelled defensively. "The last thing he needs is some Ero-sennin like you corrupting him any more than he already is!"

"My my." Jiraiya stated easily. "Your pretty defensive over your brother, despite he just knocked you into the dirt."

Naruto glared at the old man. "My brother is a lot of things and may enjoy the title of a demon, but he's not a bad person and he never does anything without a reason." The image of Jagaa smashing Lee into the wall with his cold eyes made Naruto shudder a little. "But some times his reasons…don't justify his means." He finished softly and looking to the ground.

Jiraiya's face grew more serious as he looked down at the boy. '_I see. So that's how it is._' "So kid, you really think you can beat him. From what I can tell it looks like he has a fairly good head start on you."

Naruto's eyes filled with the same defiance and determination they had had when he was talking to Jagaa as he looked up at the white haired man. "I'll do whatever it takes!" Naruto turned away from Jiraiya and face the direction Jagaa had walked. "I'll show my brother that he doesn't have to be the demon he thinks he is, just like I don't have to be the demon they want me to be!"

Jiraiya smiled down at the sunny blonde. It was as if he was looking at a younger version of his old student. "So tell me. What's your name kid?"

Naruto turned back to Jiraiya. "Uzumaki Naruto. Why?"

"Well, I thought I should know the name of my newest student!" Jiraiya said with aplomb. "Starting today, I will be training you! Feel grateful, brat!" Naruto's response to this was highly intelligent and very witty.

"Huh?"

X X X X X

'_So, what am I gonna do for a month?_' Jagaa thought idly as he wandered through the streets of Konoha, watching with a stem of amusement the way the villagers would either glare at him or avoid him. '_To bad they've gotten smart enough to stop trying to attack me. It's really been taking all the fun out of life._' He chuckled darkly. This didn't go unnoticed and caused more than a few people to leave in a hurry, only adding to his amusement.

His mind drifted back to the conversation (if you could call it that) he had just had with Naruto. He had known that Naruto would get back up after being knocked down, but he hadn't expected that raw defiance and determination that had burned in Naruto's eyes when he declared he would defeat him. Jagaa couldn't help but feel proud of his otouto. '_But determination alone won't be enough to beat me, Naruto. When the time comes, will you have the strength to back up your words?_ _I look forward to finding out._' At some point he had made it to the road near the Uchiha lake when a flash of pink out of the corner of his eye drew Jagaa's attention and he looked over curiously.

Sakura was sitting on the edge of the small pier with her knees hugged to her chest while she stared over the waters. Even from where he stood, Jagaa could see the forlorn expression on her face as she watched the sun sink on the horizon.

'_It looks like something's bothering her._' Jagaa thought and came to a stop to observe the girl for a moment. '_Oh well, she's not on my team, so it's really not my problem._' Jagaa shrugged and faced down the road again to continue on his way, but soon found that his feet were refusing to listen to him.

"Oh for the love of Kami." Jagaa said in exasperation after a few minutes of trying to leave before giving up and turning to walk down to Sakura as his feet were stubbornly dictating. "One of these days I need to find some kind of tonic to stop me from doing things like this all the time." He muttered to himself.

Sakura was depressed as she stared out over the lake. Even the beauty of the sunset with the light reflecting from the water and giving the lake a soft golden glow couldn't raise her spirits. It was bad enough that she already knew that she was the weakest of everybody that had gotten into the finals, and even worse was that she knew she should never have gotten into the finals in the first place, but to have her sensei run of to train her teammate while leaving her high and dry was enough to completely crush her.

The only thing Asuma had said before running off to train Shikamaru was that Sakura should try working on Genjutsu, but he didn't even bother to tell her how to go about it. He simply disappeared in a swirl of leaves as soon as the words left his mouth.

It didn't matter though. As sad as it made her that her sensei hadn't even tried to help her, she knew the reason he didn't. Even if he had, Sakura was too far behind the others for it to make a difference. Asuma was better off training the student who might at least have a chance at becoming a Chuunin.

"Why am I so weak?" She whispered to herself.

"Probably because you're sitting on a bridge talking to your self instead of training."

Sakura jumped so badly that she almost fell into the lake before a pair of strong arms caught her and pulled her back onto the pier. "You know that's the second time today I scared somebody into almost falling into a body of water." The new comer laughed. Sakura was surprised again when she realized just who's voice it was.

"Jagaa?" Sakura asked as she turned her head and found her self looking at her own reflection off of Jagaa's dark sunglasses.

"Yep." Jagaa smiled at her. "Sorry I scared you."

"N-no it's okay. I just wasn't expecting to see anyone." Sakura stammered out. Despite Jagaa's smile, she couldn't help but feel a little intimidated by him after what she had seen him do to Lee.

"Well that's not good." Jagaa teased. "Shouldn't a good Kunoichi always be aware of her surroundings?"

Sakura's spirits immediately plummeted and she silently turned her head away. "I suppose."

"That reminds me. You're in the finals to, aren't you? Why are you sitting here trying to grow moss instead of training? Ino's no pushover you know."

Sakura just stared over the water dejectedly. "It doesn't matter if I train or not. I'm weaker than Ino. I'm the weakest of our year. Even if I train for a month, I'll never beat her. I'd be better off going to the Hokage tower and quitting now."

"Hmmm, Yeah, you're probably right."

Sakura snapped face to Jagaa with hurt written all over her face and tears forming in her eyes. Jagaa saw the look but simply shrugged. "What do you want me to say? If you've already got that attitude a month before the fight even starts then of course you're gonna lose. It's not like my giving you a bunch of encouragement is gonna help you if you don't even want to help yourself."

Sakura's hurt feelings quickly turned to anger. "What is that supposed to mean?" She asked hotly. "Do you think I _want_ to be so weak? Do you think that I _like_ knowing that everyone around me is getting stronger while I can only sit back and watch their backs? I _hate_ being like this, but I don't know how to change it! My sensei abandoned me in favor of that lazy ass and I don't have any family that are ninja or know anybody else that could teach me! So why shouldn't I just give up? It's obvious I was never meant to be a ninja!" Sakura had tears freely falling down her cheeks as she yelled. All her buried pain and resentment surfacing like an erupting volcano. Through it all, Jagaa just sat and listened.

"I hate myself." Sakura cried into her knees as she hugged them to her chest. "I hate being so weak, and I hate the fact I don't know what to do about it."

After that, the two of them sat silently on the edge of the pier. The only sound being the occasional sniffing coming from Sakura's hidden face.

"Sakura, why do you want to get stronger?" Jagaa's question broke the silence between the two. Sakura's tear streaked face came up to look into Jagaa's. "What?"

"Why do you want to be strong?" Jagaa asked again. "And don't give me any of those dumb lines about making your parents proud, or even worse, that you just want to impress somebody." Sakura blushed a little since she knew her original purpose for wanting to be a ninja was to catch Sasuke's attention. "I want to know your honest reason for wanting to become strong."

Sakura's crying stopped as she looked at Jagaa. In all honesty, she had never really thought about it. Yes, before it would have been the shallow reason of wanting to impress Sasuke, but even she could tell something was going on between him and Hyuuga heiress. So she had more or less given up on winning him.

Now she didn't really know why she wanted to be stronger. It had just always hurt to see the others advancing in strength and skill while she never seemed to improve at all. Now that the question had been raised though, it made her wonder what her true motivation was. The only answer that really cam to her mind was…

"Because I'm sick of being weak." She growled.

Sakura slapped her hand over her mouth as soon as she said it. Where had that come from? That wasn't the type of reason she should have for wanting to get strong, but it was the only one she really had anymore. Now Jagaa would definitely make fun of her for having such a stupid reason for wanting to be stronger.

"Good answer. I like it." Jagaa replied and made the girl gape at him.

"W-what? You really think so?" Sakura asked stunned. "You're not going to tell me that it is poor reason for strength and that a Konoha shinobi should strive for strength to protect their precious people or something?"

Jagaa smiled in amusement at the pink haired girl. "Have you forgotten my fight with Lee? I'm not exactly the noblest person in the world. So why would I care if you're reasons for wanting to be stronger aren't the most noble either?"

Sakura blushed again in embarrassment. That would make sense.

"Listen, Sakura." Jagaa said and looked directly at her. "Not everybody has some sort of noble reason for wanting to be powerful. Some people want power so they can lord over others. Some people want power simply for the sake of having it. Just as some people want power to protect those they care about. The reasons may be different, but the desire for power is still the same." Jagaa smiled again. "You're only twelve, Sakura. You don't need to have some higher purpose for getting stronger yet. As long as the desire itself is there, it's fine. You can always think of some brave and valiant reason to kick the shit out of people later."

Despite everything, Sakura couldn't keep herself form snorting in laughter at that last comment. Once it passed she looked back to Jagaa with decidedly happier eyes. "Arigato, Jagaa-san."

"Oh, I wouldn't thank me just yet." Jagaa replied with a smirk. "You may find that you start to hate once you've started training under me."

Sakura was dumbfounded. "Training under you?"

"Yeah, why not? I was can't think of anything else I really need to do for the next month. So I may as well train you."

"B-but, my first match is with Ino. Wouldn't you training me be like betraying your teammate?"

Jagaa smirked again. "The next part of the exams is every man for him self, so no, I wouldn't be betraying her. In a way, I may even be helping her, because the better you are then the better she'll have to be, which means a better display of her abilities, which means a higher chance of being a Chuunin." Jagaa nodded at Sakura. "It's the same for you. I may not be able to get you quite up to Ino's level in a month, but I'm pretty sure I could get you close enough that it would be a fight worth watching, which would then improve your own chances at becoming a Chuunin as well."

Sakura couldn't find any fault with the boy's logic. If in helping her, he was in a way helping Ino as well, it destroyed any reservations Sakura may have had about accepting help from a member of another team. She could feel herself growing excited at the prospect of some real training.

"Besides," Jagaa went on. "If I know Ino, she thinks she already has this match in the bag. That means she may get a little lax in her training. This would be a good way to teach her not to assume anything until the match has been decided. Who knows," Jagaa finished with a shrug. "If you improve fast enough, you may even have a chance at beating her."

Sakura's grin at that thought was surprisingly vicious. "So when do we start."

**A/N:** And there you have it. I had a different ending planned to begin with, but I couldn't quite get it to work the way I wanted it to for the chapter. I hope it didn't end to weak the way it is. I may work at it a little more later, and if I can get it to flow right I'll repost the chapter with the original ending. That's just a possibility though.

If you're mad at me for not telling you what happened between Jagaa and Lee in the hospital…tough luck (evil laughter). I actually had written the flash back, but I didn't like the way the chapter flowed with it as much as I did without it. But don't worry, all will be revealed in time.

So, how many of you saw the 'Jagaa training Sakura' thing coming? I figured I may have dropped enough hints in the last chapters that you all may have seen it coming, but if you didn't then 'Yay' for me. If for some reason you are a Sakura hater and don't like that I'm not treating her like dirt, then to bad. I've had this planned for a while now. I may have been annoyed with Sakura on several occasions, I've never actually hated her, so I won't be abusing her.

That's all I got for ya for now. Ja ne.


	17. Training and Understanding

**A/N:** Well this one took forever and a day to write didn't it. Sorry about that. I'd like to say this won't be a normal occurrence, but I would probably end up lying. So I'll just say not to expect quick updating and then you won't be disappointed. Just know that I always update as soon as I can once it's been looked over by my beta. Oh yeah, good news on that. BainDarkblade has recovered well and will still be able to help me out. Yay!

I would like to thank anyone who offered to be my Beta when it was undetermined If BD would still be able to. I would like to give you shout outs, but my email is having technical difficulties and I'm terrible at remembering names, Pen or otherwise. You know who you are though, so just know that I appreciated the offer.

Also, as most of you know, I usually reply to all my reviews. Unfortunately because of my current location, the speed and reliability of my internet is sketchy at best. If I didn't respond then I'm sorry, but I do thank you for the reviews. They're not required, but it always makes me feel good to know that people are enjoying the story.

Okay, now that I'm done with that. Let's get this chapter rolling.

**Disclaimer:** (Fill in the blank)

**Chapter17:** Training and Understanding

"**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!**" Naruto yelled and slammed his hand onto the ground.

A puff of smoke erupted, leaving behind a cat sized orange toad with blue markings. "Yo." The frog said putting it's front leg up in greeting.

"GAAHH, NOT YOU AGAIN!"

"You really have no talent, bro." The frog said in amusement.

A vein appeared on Naruto's forehead. "Shut up! I summoned you two didn't I?"

"Yeah, but how long did it take you to manage that? Like a week or so?"

"Can I have a snack now?" A second frog off to the side, a yellow one with orange markings, said in a cutesy way.

"Will you be quiet, Gamatatsu? All you ever think about is food."

"But Gamakichi Nii-san, I'm hungry!"

"Why are the two of you still here anyway? Can't you un-summon yourselves?"

"It's more fun on this side watching you."

"I want some candy."

"GAAAHHHHH!" Naruto screamed and grabbed his hair in frustration.

"NOOO!!!" Jiraiya's anguished cry came from the bushes. "You idiots! All your yelling scared away the pretty ladies!"

Naruto's eye started twitching dangerously. "Shut up, Ero-sennin! Why don't you actually help me like you said you were going to instead of spying on women all the time?"

"Che, I've already shown you how to summon. It's not my fault you haven't been making any progress."

"I wouldn't be having so many problems if you didn't make me use up all my chakra before I start every day, you damned Ero-sennin!"

This time it was Jiraiya's eyes turn to twitch. "In case you've forgotten, brat, the reason you have to do that is because you're trying to learn how to call on that enormous chakra sleeping inside of you at anytime. You'd never figure it out if you already still had access to your normal chakra, now would you?"

"Then quite telling me I have no talent when you're trying to make me do something I've never done intentionally before, you retarded Ero-sennin!"

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

"Which one? Ero-sennin or retarded?" Naruto smirked.

"You little brat!"

"You see?" Gamakichi said to the other frog. "Much more fun on this side."

X X X X X

He was evil.

That was the only thing Sakura could think as she splashed across the water and started sinking after failing to dodge yet another blow from her current training partner.

He was pure evil.

How could she have really thought this was a good idea? There was no way she was going to survive at this rate.

After struggling to climb out of the water and resume her place standing on top of it. Once out, Sakura glared at the older boy standing on the water across from her. Her anger only intensified when she saw that he had once again started reading that damn orange book as he waited, calmly standing on the rivers surface about twenty meters away.

Noticing that Sakura was once again on her feet, Jagaa lowered his book and looked up at her. "Oh, you're out." He said idly and put his book back in his shuriken pouch. How he kept it from getting sliced up in there Sakura would never be able to figure out. Crossing his arms in front of him Jagaa gave her a relaxed smile. "Whenever you're ready."

Even though she was extremely irritated with the dirty blonde before her, Sakura was also apprehensive about attacking again. She knew Jagaa was taking it easy on her, but that didn't mean he was being nice about it. Sakura cringed when she thought back to when they had started their sparring sessions only a week ago. At first she had thought it wouldn't be so bad, but Jagaa had quickly dispelled _that_ particular illusion.

///Flashback///

"_Alright." Jagaa said as Sakura walked back down the base of the large tree for the fifteenth time. The first thing Jagaa had asked her when he led her deep into the forest to the bank of the river was if she had been taught how to tree walk. When she told him she had, he told her to start walking up and down the tree until he told her to stop. "It looks like you have great control, but your reserves are kinda low." He noted after seeing her somewhat heavy breathing._

"_Yeah, that's more or less what Asuma-sensei said." Sakura said in a slightly dejected tone while looking down._

_Jagaa waved his hand dismissively. "Eh, don't worry about it. Nobody just starts off with huge reserves after all." Jagaa paused when his thoughts drifted to Naruto. "Okay, so _most_ people don't, but that's not the point. The point is that it's possible to build your reserves with some exercises like the tree and water walking."_

_Sakura perked up a bit and looked at Jagaa. "Water walking? I don't know how to do that."_

"_I figured as much, that's why I'm about to teach it to you." Jagaa walked to the edge of the water. "You simply have to expel a constant amount of chakra from your feet into the water to act like a platform, or invisible stilts…at least that's the best way I can describe it. I'm not all that great at explaining things like this. I prefer to just show how it's done and then coach from there. And on that note..." Jagaa stepped out onto the water and walked about twenty feet out before turning back to Sakura. "There you have it. Now you try."_

_Sakura nodded and walked to the edge of the water. "Okay, so I have to keep a constant flow of chakra being expelled from my feet and then…" She stepped out onto the water…and promptly fell in. Coughing and sputtering Sakura crawled back onto the shore and looked back at an amused Jagaa._

"_Did I mention that you need to use a good deal more chakra for this than for tree climbing?" He asked lightly. Sakura was certain that if she could see his eyes that they would be dancing in mirth._

"_No!" She growled as she wrung out her long pink hair. "You didn't."_

_Jagaa shrugged nonchalantly, his smile still in place. "Oh well, at least you know now, right?"_

_Sakura didn't even grace that with an answer. She just walked to the water again and focused on expelling her chakra. This time when she put her foot down, it stopped about a foot below the surface for a few seconds before she lost it and fell in to come up coughing and sputtering again, this time with a fair amount of cursing thrown in._

_Jagaa grinned again before reaching into his shuriken pouch and pulling out his copy of 'Icha Icha Paradise'. It looked like he would have a bit of a wait._

_X X X_

_It turned out not to take nearly as long a Jagaa thought, and less than ten minutes later Sakura was standing proudly on top of the water in the middle of the river. "Ha! What do you think of that?"_

"_Not bad." Jagaa said with a small smile and put his book back in his pouch, but instead of his hand coming out empty he pulled out two shuriken which he casually threw at Sakura. With a startled cry Sakura jumped to the side to avoid the projectiles. Unfortunately her concentration was broken causing her to forget to pump chakra through her feet and she ended up back under water. She surfaced gasping for air yet again and stared in shock at Jagaa._

"_WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" She screamed._

_Jagaa pulled out a couple more shuriken and looked calmly back at Sakura. "Since we just started, I'll give you exactly one minute to get back on top of the water before I start throwing these at you. I suggest you hurry because it's really hard to dodge when you're still half submerged."_

_Sakura stared for a moment before hurriedly trying to climb back on to the surface of the water. It was a hell of a lot harder than starting from the shore, but she had no doubts Jagaa would follow through on his words. With a great deal of effort she finally managed to regain her position on the surface but was starting to feel the effects of using so much of her chakra in one day. "What the hell kind of training is this?" She yelled in a panic._

"_My kind." Jagaa stated and Sakura gaped at him. "Your stamina sucks and your skills over all are plain pathetic. Unfortunately for you, if you want to keep from embarrassing yourself in the final exam we can't work on just one or the other. So we'll have to work on both at once by sparring on top of the river. Understand?" Jagaa threw the next two shuriken as soon as he finished talking._

_Sakura jumped to the side again to avoid them, this time making sure to keep the chakra flowing from out of her feet. She sunk into the water a little when she landed but managed to stay on the surface this time, fighting back the exhaustion that was starting to come over her as she prepared for the next attack._

"_You see. You're already getting the hang of it." Jagaa said with a smile as he pulled out some more shuriken. "Just try not to die, okay. The old man will never let me hear the end of it if you do."_

_Sakura gulped._

///Flashback End///

Sakura growled as she remembered the rest of day. Jagaa had worked her to the point she nearly drowned, gave her fifteen minutes to rest, then made her fight him on land while she was exhausted, and finally took her to the hospital to get patched up. That had been the course of events for the last week straight, and it looked like nothing would be changing today.

Sakura was even entertaining the thought of quitting right then and there and just going home, when Jagaa said his magic little phrase.

"You done already? Ino can handle more than this."

And just like that, all thoughts of quitting disappeared as an image of a smirking Ino appeared in front of her. Adrenaline rushed through her body and all fatigue vanished. She glared across the water to the smiling boy in front of her. "Like hell I'm gonna quit now!"

Sakura charged at Jagaa like an angry bull and threw her fist at his chest. With almost negligent ease Jagaa caught Sakura's wrist and using her momentum to flip her into the air. Sakura managed to get her feet under her at the last second and stay on top of the water and was about to throw another punch but instead was forced to cross her arms in front of her to block the mule kick Jagaa sent at her. The force of the kick sent her sailing through the air with her back to the water. This time, just before she fell in again, Sakura twisted her body and released chakra through both her hands and feet to land like a cat on the shimmering surface facing Jagaa again. She growled low in her throat when she saw that Jagaa had taken to offhandedly examining his nails on his left hand while motioning for Sakura to come at him with his right making it clear he wasn't taking the fight seriously.

"I'll show him!" She gritted out and charged again.

Jagaa was secretly impressed as he watched the pink haired girl charge at him yet again. Her improvement was notable for only a week of training. When they had first started, she would fall into the water every time he knocked her off her feet and only had enough chakra to last about fifteen minutes fighting on the water. Now she was able to react faster and keep herself from falling in about half the time, and they were rounding almost thirty five minutes on the water with the girl still rearing to go.

'_I guess that whole 'rivalry' thing really does help._' He noted, thinking amusedly at how comparing Sakura to Ino was almost as good as giving the girl a soldier pill. '_But she still has a ways to go if she's going to give Ino a run for her money._' Jagaa nonchalantly moved his head to the side to avoid Sakura's punch and blocked her kick with his own leg. Taking advantage of her open position he struck her with an open palm to the gut and sent her staggering back. '_She still has a few weeks though, and who knows, she might get lucky._'

Sakura was on her knees gasping for air as she looked at the scarred older boy who had taken to looking at the clouds. '_That son of a bitch! I'll find a way to kick his ass if it's the last thing I do!_'

'_**Fuck yeah we will, SHANNARO!**_**'**

X X X X X

If you were to say that Tenten was distracted, you would have been making the understatement of the decade. At least that was Neji's thoughts as Tenten nearly skewered him yet again when she was supposed to only be trying to graze him to help him with training. Her distant and unfocused eyes showing all too clearly that she was only barely aware of what she was doing.

"Tenten!" He said loudly, trying to get her attention as the dodged another projectile. "Tenten!" He ducked under a few shuriken and rolled out of the way of the following senbon needles. He finished the roll and went into a crouch, but as he started to stand again a kunai passed between his legs _extremely_ close to a _very_ precious part of his body. "TENTEN!!!"

Tenten stopped mid way through her next throw, her eyes focusing on the long haired boy. "Hmm, what is it Neji?"

Neji almost gaped at the girl in disbelief, the only thing stopping him being his iron control and over all arrogance. Schooling his face into the sternest expression he could he glared at the girl. "Tenten, if you are not going to focus on helping me train then I would prefer that you left me to train in solitude." He decided, for the sake of his pride, not to mention that the last close call had scared the shit out of him.

Tenten's eyes widened. She had been so lost in her thoughts that she had almost forgotten she was helping Neji train, only managing to keep the vague knowledge that she was supposed to be throwing weapons at him.

"Sorry, Neji." She apologized in a tired voice. "I guess I have a lot on my mind. I'll come back later, okay?"

"Only come back if you free of distractions and ready to focus." Neji said stiffly. "You are useless to my training as you are now."

Tenten nodded absently and walked away into the surrounding trees. As soon as she was out of sight, Neji cupped himself protectively.

That had been _WAY _to close.

X X X X X

'_What's wrong with me?_' Tenten thought dejectedly. It had been a week, a damned week, since Lee had told her about the conversation he had with Jagaa, and she still couldn't get it out of her mind. Everything Lee had told her had once again managed to flip her thoughts on the scarred boy. It was driving her insane.

"Who is he?" She muttered to herself. If she had been paying attention, she may have been able to avoid a similarly distracted person. Unfortunately that was not the case and the two collided head on, knocking each other down.

"Ow, what the hell?" The other person yelled.

Tenten rubbed her now sore backside. "I'm sorry." She said as she looked up at the person she had run into. "I wasn't paying…" She stopped mid sentence when she saw the long, platinum blonde hair of the person in front of her. "Hey, aren't you…?"

Ino was rather irritated right now. She had _finally_ gotten her father to let her have a day off from training and had been looking forward to a day of window shopping and just relaxing in general. The fact that if she was moving around the village there was a chance she could just _happen_ ('happen' meaning she had systematically been going to all his usual hangouts) to run into Naruto was only a bonus. It was those happy thoughts that made her fail to realize she was on a collision course with a certain bun haired girl.

Ino had been rubbing her own backside and muttering curses under her breath when Tenten's surprised voice reached her ears. Ino curiously looked up and saw the familiar bun haired brunet and her eyes widened in recognition. "Hey, I know you. You're that girl who's always fighting with Nii-san." Her widened eyes narrowed considerably. "And the one who slapped him after his fight."

Tenten shifted a bit and looked down nervously. "Uh, yeah."

The two girls were silent for some time, each one not really sure what to say to the other.

"Hey, are you two okay?" Someone asked, reminding both girls that they were currently sitting in the middle of the street in the shopping district. Blushing heavily they both jumped to their feet. "Yes, we're fine. Thank you." The two of them said in unison. The stranger nodded and continued on his way with most of the curious spectators following suit.

"Well, sorry for running into you. See you around." Ino said as she turned to leave.

"Wait a second!" Tenten said quickly, making Ino stop and turn back to her. It was an impulsive decision, but now that the opportunity had presented itself, Tenten couldn't just let it pass her up. "Can I talk to you?"

Ino looked at Tenten curiously before nodding.

X X X

Fifteen minutes later had the two girls sitting the furthest back booth of a small coffee shop.

"So what did you want to talk about?" In asked after taking a sip of her latte.

"Jagaa." Tenten said directly. Ino's eyebrows rose in surprise. She had suspected it would be something like that, but she had also expected the other girl to dance around the issue for a while, or try to get the information she wanted through more subtle means.

"Nii-san?" Ino clarified more to give herself time to pull her thoughts back together than anything. Tenten simply nodded. "What did you want to know?"

"Everything!" Tenten declared intensely, making Ino's eyes widen more. "I want to know everything you can tell me!"

"Why?" Ino asked with genuine curiosity. She had been convinced that the other girl more or less hated Jagaa and had been expecting some sort of accusations or questions about why he was so merciless with her teammate.

"Because he keeps _changing_!" Tenten yelled out, causing many heads to turn toward the pair of girls. "One day he's a flirty, cocky, pain in the ass that keeps pulling my hair out of its buns. Then he's some kind of protector, attacking Chuunin who hit me and saving me from being smashed onto metal fans. Then he turns into some kind of vicious, cold blooded monster who almost kills my teammate. Then he's _consoling_ that same person an hour later, if you can even term what he did as 'consoling'." Tenten grabbed the sides of her head in aggravation. "It just doesn't make sense!"

Ino's curiosity peeked. She knew where all the other things Tenten was talking about came from, but that last part was news to her. "What do you mean by 'consoling'?"

Tenten, shifted uncomfortably a bit and looked away. "Well, maybe that isn't the right term to use."

"I don't care about the term. I want to know what Nii-san did that I don't know about." Ino pressed, leaning onto the table.

"Well…after we all had to go to the hospital to get checked up, I went to see Lee. When I got there, Jagaa came walking out of Lee's room."

Ino's eyebrows rose again. She didn't think even Jagaa would go see somebody he had so brutally beaten only a few hours before. "What happened?"

"Well, after he left, I asked Lee if anything had happened and started accusing Jagaa of only going there to hurt Lee more." Tenten turned her head to look out the nearby window. "You can imagine my surprise when Lee reprimanded me for being disrespectful towards him."

Ino was starting to wonder if her eyes would be stuck wide open forever with the amount of surprises she had gotten in the last fifteen minutes. She had to admit, hearing that someone was defending someone who nearly killed them was definitely out of the ordinary. However, she also knew that her brother figure was not your typical person. "Did he tell you what happened?"

Tenten nodded and Ino leaned closer with a look that clearly said 'tell me'. Tenten took a breath. "Well, this is what he told me…"

///Flashback///

_Lee was sitting up in his hospital bed looking dejectedly down at his broken right arm. It was only one of many other broken bones and injuries he had received, but somehow, seeing his arm in that condition damaged his spirit far more his other injuries did._

_Beside his bed, Gai stood somberly looking down at his favorite student. He wanted to say something, anything, in order to cheer the depressed boy up, but try as he might, no words would come._

"_I'm sorry, Gai-sensei." Lee said quietly. "I failed you."_

_Lee's low, heart broken words cut through the green clad Jounin's heart like a knife, bringing tears to the man's eyes. "Lee, how could you say that? The flames of your youth burned brightly and beautifully in your match. You may have lost, but you did your very best. Just as you always have. You have nothing to be ashamed of."_

"_I'd say that's a matter of opinion."_

_Both Gai and Lee's heads snapped in the direction of the new voice coming from the door way. One of the two's eyes widened in surprise and fear while the others narrowed at the sight of the figure leaning indifferently against the door frame._

"_Ahh, you two don't look all that happy to see me." Jagaa said with a slight smirk. He had still yet to find a shirt, leaving his scars exposed and intimidating with his sword held loosely in his left hand._

_Gai looked at his nervous student then back to Jagaa. "May I ask what you are doing here, Jagaa?" He asked with a protective edge in his voice._

_Jagaa pulled away from the door frame and started walking into the room. "I'm just here to talk to that little clone of yours." Jagaa's voice was cool and his movements relaxed as he made his way to stand directly in front of the bob haired Jounin and looked straight up at him. "Alone."_

_Lee shrank away on his bed, a movement that did not go unnoticed by Gai. "I'm afraid I will have to deny your request, Jagaa." His eyes hardened on the boy in front of him, who simply smirked back before tilting his head to look around Gai and at the nervous Lee._

"_Ah, I see." He said with a nod. "Well I guess I'll just be going then." Jagaa turned and took a few steps toward the door before stopping and looking back over his shoulder at Lee again. "Buuuttttt, I have to wonder if a person so afraid of facing someone he lost to could ever _really_ become strong enough to prove his 'Way of the Ninja'."_

_Gai actually groaned when Jagaa said that. The boy had just caught his student hook line and sinker, and by the way Jagaa was smirking victoriously, he knew it. One look back into Lee's defiant and determined eyes was all the confirmation Gai needed._

"_Gai-sensei, could you please leave us alone?" Lee asked while staring straight at Jagaa._

_For a second, Gai considered refusing, but seeing the determination he knew so well burning behind his student's eyes, he decided against it. Who knew, maybe the experience would be good for his young charge. Gai looked back at Jagaa and took in the scars on his body, even as he remembered the look he had seen in the boy's eyes after the fight. A look that, like his scars, spoke of the experiences his life had entailed. Maybe, just maybe, it would be for the best._

"_I understand." Gai finally said. "I'll be right outside if you need me though." At Lee's nod, Gai walked past Jagaa to the door. Before exiting, he paused just long enough to look back at Jagaa. '_I hope I'm right about you,_' The Jounin thought before closing the door behind him._

_As soon as the door was shut, Jagaa grabbed the chair next to Lee's bed and spun it around to sit on it backwards while at the same time leaning his sword against the wall. He had yet to say anything since Gai's departure, but Lee could practically feel the unique eyes drilling into him._

_Lee felt his determination and confidence fading away in front of the silent boy. It had been one thing when Lee had Gai's reassuring presence, but now that he was alone with Jagaa, the other boys own presence was starting to intimidate Lee again._

"_So," Jagaa finally said. "You gonna tell me why you decided to ruin a perfectly good fight by using that stupid move of yours?" Jagaa's voice seemed almost friendly, but Lee could hear a distinct edge to his voice that was anything but._

_Lee was completely caught off guard by Jagaa's question. "I don't understand what you…"_

"_You were WINNING, you dumbass!" Jagaa yelled, causing Lee to shrink back again. "Through the whole damn fight you had the speed advantage! ESPECIALLY when you dropped your weights! Hell, the only thing that was really keeping me in the fight was that your style is so straight forward that I was able to predict a lot of your attacks! Now, lets add in the fact that I was burning chakra like crazy just trying to keep up with you while you were using speed and endurance developed through years of hard training, and who do you think would have won?"_

_Lee opened and closed his mouth a couple times like a fish out of water, not knowing what to say to that. He didn't have to worry about finding words at the moment though because Jagaa hadn't finished ranting._

"_But NNNOOOO! You just have to go and ruin the fun by using that stupid 'Tomato Rangu' or whatever move and leave yourself defenseless! Then, you don't even manage to finish it with that super move you pulled at the end! So not only did you ruin all my fun, you botched the finish! Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you?"_

_Lee could only stare incredulously at Jagaa, who had apparently finally finished his rant. He was so confused by Jagaa's reaction to the fight that he could only think of one thing to say._

"_Umm, my move is called 'Omote Renge', Jagaa-san."_

_Jagaa's eyebrow twitched and his sword appeared in his hand half drawn from the sheath. "Don't tempt me to kill you any more than I already want to." He growled._

"…_Sorry."_

_Jagaa's sword stayed half drawn for a while as if he was still considering using it, but finally he slid it fully back into its sheath and leaned it against the wall again. With a despairing sigh he folded his arms on the back of the chair and laid his forehead on them. "So you gonna tell me why you decided to use that move of yours now?" Jagaa's muffled voice asked._

_Lee shifted uncomfortably. "I…I suppose…because I wanted to win." Jagaa lifted his head off his arms and Lee could swear he felt the room temperature drop. "I-I didn't realize at the time that, as you say, I was already winning."_

_Jagaa leaned back and started rubbing the bridge of his nose in irritation. "What really gets me is the fact you would use a move like that _at all_ in a fight like ours. Didn't your sensei give you any sort of restrictions on it? Like when you're about to die or something?"_

_Lee nodded, his face showing both his embarrassment and his nervousness. "Yes, Jagaa-san, Gai-sensei has indeed given me a very important restriction. One that, I am ashamed to admit, I forgot due to the excitement I was feeling in our fight." Lee paused and took a breath. "Gai-sensei has told me that I should never use the 'Omote Renge' unless I am protecting an important person."_

_This time the temperature of the room did drop, and Jagaa's body stiffened. Slowly, he drew his hand away from his face and tilted his head down to look directly at Lee. Any amount of confidence or comfort in Jagaa's presence was ripped away from the large eye browed boy as the intensity of Jagaa's gaze pierced him even through the sunglasses._

"_Would you mind repeating that?" Jagaa asked in a low voice._

"_I…I said…I was told to never use it unless I was protecting someone important to me." Lee stated nervously, his eyes glancing to the door he knew his teacher was on the other side of._

"_So…" Jagaa's voice stayed low and steady. "If it had been a fight with someone you care about on the line, you would have been willing to use that move almost right off the bat? Without hesitation?"_

"_Y-yes." Lee answered shakily._

"_I see." Lee was really starting to wish Jagaa would yell or something. Anything but this low, dangerous tone he was using now. "Even if there were multiple enemies, you would use it?"_

_Lee couldn't find his voice anymore and could only nod slowly to Jagaa's last question. He hadn't even finished the movement when Jagaa's fist slammed into his jaw._

_Reeling from the surprise of the blow and the pain wracking his body because of it, Lee could do nothing when Jagaa grabbed the front of his hospital shirt and jerked him back causing his injured body to spasm in pain again as his face was pulled within inches of Jagaa's._

"_Are, you, fucking, _stupid_?" Jagaa growled menacingly._

_Lee was trembling violently as Jagaa's murderous aura washed over him and questions raced through his head. Why was Jagaa so angry? Why wasn't Gai-sensei coming to help him? "I-I don't u-understand." He finally stammered out._

"_What sort of complete fucking _idiot_ would use a move like that to protect someone?" Jagaa practically yelled at him, his voice finally breaking free of its deadly tone._

_Lee's terror of the boy in front of him faded slightly as his confusion surfaced along with a small amount of resentment that someone was disrespecting his sensei's teachings. "If you are protecting someone precious to you, why should you NOT use the most powerful techniques you know, Jagaa-san?" Lee stated with all the strength he could muster, strength that almost faded away again as Jagaa's aura became more lethal._

"_And what if you had been protecting someone from _me_?"_

_The question turned Lee's blood to ice. What…what if he _had_ been fighting Jagaa with some he cared about on the line. Jagaa had stopped the _Omote Renge_ easily, and then took the full force of his _Ura Renge_ and still got back up to fight again, putting Lee in the position he was in now. If Jagaa had been trying to kill someone Lee was protecting, he would have just used his remaining energy to do just that instead of attacking Lee again, and Lee would have been powerless to stop him._

_His thoughts must have shown clearly on his face because he felt Jagaa's anger lessen considerably and his grip on his shirt loosen. "It looks like you're starting to get the picture." The scarred boy said in a much more subdued tone. Lee fell back as Jagaa released his hold and sat back down in the chair._

_Silence filled the air between the two boys, each having become lost in their own thoughts._

_Lee was the first to break the silence, his voice low and hesitant. "Jagaa-san…I…"_

"_Look," Jagaa cut him off. "I originally came here just to yell at you a bit, get some answers, and call it a day. But now I don't think I can leave it at that."_

_Lee was completely surprised by Jagaa's sudden change in demeanor. The older boy seemed to have changed into a completely different person from the one who had been intimidating Lee with his very presence. In fact, Lee almost felt comforted by the new aura coming off the scarred boy. It made no sense, but Lee was extremely grateful for the change._

"_Listen," Jagaa said, breaking the other boy from his thoughts. "Don't go spreading this around, but the reason I beat the living hell out of you was…well first off because you annoyed me by ruining a good fight. (Lee sweatdropped) But mostly it was because I wanted you to learn something." Jagaa was looking directly into Lee's face. "First off, is that you need to be more aware of the consequences of using techniques that are as damaging to you as they are to the enemy." Lee opened his mouth to protest but Jagaa held up his hand. "I know that you understand the _effects_ of using your techniques, but you don't understand the true purpose of techniques like that. Moves like that can really only be labeled as one thing…Suicide."_

_Lee flinched back a little from Jagaa's last word. He wanted to try to protest but Jagaa had not stopped yet._

"_Move's like those are last resorts. Something that you use when you've tried everything else and are still getting your ass kicked and will probably be killed anyway." Jagaa actually grinned at Lee. "In other words, when you're fucked if you do and fucked if you don't."_

_Lee gaped at Jagaa. "You really think that's the only time I should use the Renge techniques, Jagaa-san?"_

_Jagaa shrugged. "Moves that leave you completely defenseless whether they work or not? Yea, I think I'd be waiting until I had the Shinigami breathing down my neck before using them. But hey, if you really have a death wish, feel free to use it whenever. However, if you use it against _me_ again and don't finish me off, I _will_ kill you for stupidity." Lee couldn't help but gulp._

"_That brings me to my next point, and most important point." Jagaa continued, his voice becoming steely. "If it comes down to the possibility of killing your opponent to win… don't hesitate to do it."_

_Lee looked away guiltily._

"_Didn't think I noticed, did you?" Jagaa stated. "As soon as you used that 'Uda Ranga', I was completely fucked. I was shoving all the chakra I could through my body to cushion the blows and had made my body as limp as possible to reduce the impact…but that wouldn't have helped for shit if you had been aiming for vital areas now would it?"_

_Lee shifted uncomfortably and mumbled that the name was 'Ura Renge' but otherwise stayed silent._

"_Well?" Jagaa asked. "You do realize that if you want to continue as a shinobi that you're gonna have to kill somebody eventually right? You'd be wise to take that to heart now."_

"_I understand that, Jagaa-san." Lee burst out. "However, you are a shinobi of Konaha. It is only natural that I try not to kill a comrade isn't it?"_

_Jagaa just shrugged again. "Once again, that depends on your point of view. I, personally, have no problem with it though." Lee just stared in disbelief at the other boy before shaking his head._

"_When the time comes, I will do what is necessary to defeat my enemies. However, I will _never_ take the life of a comrade. I would rather kill myself first." Lee's tone said clearly that this was one issue that he would _not_ back down on and, after a small staring match, Jagaa started to chuckle._

"_I guess it can't be helped. You're a lot like Naruto in that aspect of your personality." Lee wasn't sure why, but he got the feeling he had just been highly complimented by the older boy._

"_Well, I think it's time I get going. I already said a lot more than I intended to, but at least I'm fairly sure you got the message now." Jagaa stood up and stretched before picking up his sword. "Make sure you recover fast, Lee. Cause I want a rematch when you do."_

_Lee smiled at the last comment. He too was looking forward to a chance to fight Jagaa again. It was as Jagaa was turning to leave that Lee remembered. "Jagaa-san!" He called out stopping the other boy. Once he saw he had Jagaa's attention again, he took a breath and asked hesitantly. "Why did you react so strongly to using the 'Omote Renge' to protect an important person?"_

_The question hung in the air between the two, and Lee started regretting that he asked. Finally, after what felt like an eternity to Lee, Jagaa spoke in a quite voice._

"_Because the price of failure…is too high."_

"_Jagaa..san?" Lee was stunned. In that one sentence, Lee had heard so much emotion in the scarred boy's voice that it made his heart clench. For an instant, Jagaa looked like he had aged thirty years as the sunlight bathed his body, pronouncing the scars that covered it. He didn't really know why, but it was at that moment Lee felt any residual resentment or fear fade away and be replaced by something he could only describe as respect._

_Jagaa shook his head as if clearing away unwanted memories and turned back to Lee with a small smile that showed the smallest amount of sadness hidden behind it. "Looks like I got all weird on you there. Sorry about that. I'll just take off now." Jagaa turned to leave but stopped to look back over his shoulder. "Make sure you heal quickly. I want my rematch as soon as possible."_

_Lee grinned at the other boy and threw a salute. "Ossu." As Jagaa turned away though, Lee's smile dropped and he turned to stare out the window, his thoughts lost in all that had just transpired. He wasn't sure what to make of it all yet, but he was grateful that the older boy had visited him today._

"_Arigato…Jagaa-san." Lee said softly. If Jagaa heard him he gave no indication as he silently walked away._

///Flashback End///

Ino and Tenten sat in silence once Tenten had finished revealing everything she had been told by Lee. Tenten was certain that the blonde girl was having just as difficult a time understanding everything Jagaa's actions as Tenten herself had.

"So…" Ino finally started and Tenten leaned forward expectantly. "Did you ever find out why your sensei didn't come busting in when Nii-san had that Lee guy by the throat?"

Tenten almost fell out of her seat. Out of all the questions Ino could have asked, she asked the one that Tenten found to be the least relevant. "Why would you ask about _that_ of all things?" She almost yelled.

Ino just shrugged. "Because I want to know."

Tenten looked at Ino in exasperation. "Fine, if that's _all_ you want to know. It turned out that Gai-sensei had been listening through the door but decided not to intervene unless he was certain Jagaa was about to seriously try to hurt Lee, saying something about wanting to believe in him."

Ino nodded her understanding but said nothing else, sparking Tenten's temper. "How can that be the only thing you want to know after everything I just told? Are you trying to tell me that none of what he did surprises or confuses you?"

Much to Tenten's ire, Ino just smirked back at her. "Why, does it confuse _you_?"

"OF COURSE IT DOES!!!" Tenten yelled, making everybody in the coffee shop jump. "Nothing about what he said or how he acted makes any sense! Why the hell is he like that? Why can't he stay the same person for more than five minutes? WHY THE HELL IS HE SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND!!!" Tenten was actually panting as she finished.

Ino stared at Tenten for a moment before calmly taking a sip of her latte. "Because understanding Nii-san, is impossible."

Tenten was caught off guard by Ino's statement and her anger faltered slightly. "What do you mean by that?"

Ino looked up at the bun haired girl with something akin to sympathy in her eyes. "You say you want to understand him, but because you have no understanding of what he's been through in life, you never will." Ino looked out the same window that Tenten had been staring at before. "Even if he were to tell you what type of life he's led, you wouldn't be able to understand, just as I can't. We can never fully understand because, even if he tells us about it, we've never experienced it. It's like watching a play and trying to pretend you're the one on stage. You might _think _that you understand the emotions the actors are feeling, but you will never truly _know_ unless you get up on the stage yourself, and believe me, Nii-san's life is _not_ something you would want to experience firsthand."

Tenten was stunned as she looked at the blonde girl in front of her. "Why? Just what has he been through?"

Ino shook her head. "It's not my story to tell. I can tell you this much though." Ino looked up, and Tenten was amazed by the depths of the emotion behind the blonde's eyes. "The only person who could possibly begin to understand him…is Naruto." Ino dropped her gaze into the drink in front of her and sighed. "But even he can't understand everything."

"Why?" Tenten whispered. Ino took another sip of her latte as she tried to find the right words.

"Because Naruto's still pure."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Tenten asked, surprising herself by the amount of defensiveness that had slipped into her voice but brushing it off as nerves.

"I've already said all I'm going to say." Ino said flatly. "I told you before. It's not my story to tell."

Tenten wanted to try to press the issue, but the finality in the other girls voice said clearly that she wouldn't be getting anything else from the blonde and let the matter drop.

Silence filled the space between them and the air became heavy as they sipped at their respective drinks, lost in their own thoughts. Ino of course started to feel a bit fidgety because of it and decided it was time to fix that, and she knew just how to do it.

"I'm surprised though." She said drawing Tenten's attention. "Considering how you always seem to fight with Nii-san, I never thought you actually had a crush on him. If you hadn't started asking about him today, I would probably still be in the dark about it."

Ino watched in amusement as Tenten processed her remark. The effect was instantaneous. Tenten's face flushed red and a vein appeared on her forehead as she jumped to her feet and slammed her hands on the table. "I do NOT have a crush on him!" She screamed. "I just wanted to know why he tried to turn my  
teammate into hamburger!"

"Uh huh, sure." Ino smirked. "That's why you want to know _everything_ about him, right?"

Tenten blushed deeper but immediately made her defense by screaming out every possible fault and undesirable trait Jagaa possessed that came to her mind. Ino simply smiled knowingly while sipping her latte as the brunette continued her rant.

Neither one ever saw the black haired girl in an elegant Chinese dress who had been listening to their every word get up from the booth in front of them and walk out of the shop.

X X X X X

Sakura was only just barely able to stay on her feet as she staggered away from the river, silently cursing the scarred boy who was responsible for her current state.

"You _sure_ you don't want to go get checked out at the hospital?" Jagaa called to her, his voice full of mischief. "You don't look so hot." Much to Jagaa's amusement, Sakura actually flipped him off as she stumbled away.

"Looks like she's still feeling some side effects of what happened." Jagaa mused. "I have to say, it has been one hell of an interesting day." Indeed it had. Who could have guessed that the pink haired girl had something like _that_ hidden away? Jagaa was more than a little pleased with the turn of events and was definitely looking forward to main matches.

"Hmm, but what should I do now that I let her call it quits early today?" Jagaa said stroking his chin thoughtfully.

A sudden presence behind him had Jagaa's hand racing to his sword hilt, only to be stopped cold when a slender hand grabbed his wrist. At the same time, an equally slender hand snaked its way over his left shoulder and was now tracing small circles on his chest.

"Oh, so aggressive, Jagaa-chan. It's getting me hot." A voice whispered seductively in his ear. "Now what should you do to fix that?"

Now being fully aware of who his assailant was, Jagaa simply smiled impishly back over his shoulder. "I'll buy you a dildo for your birthday."

"Ahh, you're so mean, Jagaa-chan." Anko whined and pressed her well endowed 'assets' more firmly against his back. "You know I was looking for a more _cooperative_ means to fix my problem." The hand that had been tracing his chest was now sneaking its way down his torso to a more _sensitive_ part of his body, only to be stopped when Jagaa reversed the roles and grabbed _her_ wrist.

"Deal with it, pedophile." Jagaa smirked as he pulled her hand away. "Besides, didn't you get this out of your system the already?"

"Sure did." Anko chirped. "That's why I need you to put something _back in_ my system."

Jagaa sighed and shook his head. "I may have unintentionally lied to Naruto. Apparently I underestimated your sex drive."

"You bet your ass you did." Anko declared proudly making Jagaa smack his forehead. "But I'll play nice and leave you alone for now. Wouldn't want you all worn out while you're training pinky." Anko paused thoughtfully. "Course, with how hard you're pushing her she may just die and then it won't be an issue."

"Oh she'll be fine." Jagaa said, absently noting that Anko had yet to remove herself from his back. "I never put her through more than I think she can handle. Besides, even if I were to over due it, I heard from Birdbrain that Kitten is a pretty good medic." Jagaa turned his head and yelled to a nearby tree. "Isn't that right, Kitten?" The tree's leaves seemed to shift guiltily before the sound of swirling wind marked the occupants exit via _Shunshin_.

Jagaa frowned a bit. "Huh, she could have at least come out and said 'Hi'. I wonder if she's having a relapse?"

"What do you mean?" Anko asked, the seductiveness in her voice being replaced by curiosity.

"Well, to tell the truth, she was pretty stuck up when I first met her four years ago. In fact, it took me almost two years of coaxing and badgering before she started to relax and open up around me. For about a year now though, she's had a much more open, even joking personality." Jagaa paused and grimaced a little. "Sometimes I wonder if it was such a good idea to pull her out of her shell though. She actually sicked fangirls on me a couple months back."

The memory of that day played through Jagaa's mind and it was with a start that he realized that had also been the day he had accidentally found himself in Kyougu's weapons shop. He was also struck by the realization that it was because of that, that he ended up meeting Tenten for the first time a week or so later. What surprised him the most though, was that as soon as that fact made itself known, Jagaa found himself very grateful to Kitten for her fangirl attack. Jagaa quickly shook his head to clear away the strange direction his thoughts were going.

"What's up?" Anko asked at Jagaa's rather violent shake of his head.

"Just clearing my thoughts." Jagaa said and looked back over his shoulder. "More importantly, were you able to talk to Kurenai for me?"

Anko nodded. "Yep, and she even said that she'd be willing to help since Shino is going to be training with his family. She did have one condition though."

Jagaa raised his eyebrows curiously. "That being?"

"TWENTY FOUR HOURS OF NON STOP SEX!!!" Anko yelled at the top of her lungs.

Jagaa winced, fairly sure he'd never be able to hear out of his right ear again. "That would be _your _condition, you Kami damned nympho."

Anko laughed and Jagaa had to once again grab her straying hand. "That's true isn't it?" Jagaa rolled his eyes behind his glasses as Anko continued. "Actually, all she wants is an apology."

Jagaa tilted his head in confusion. "For what?"

Anko actually looked at him like he was crazy, and coming from her that couldn't be a good sign. "Uh, need I remind you of your little _incident_ at the hospital a week ago?"

Jagaa frowned in thought. He could only assume she was talking about when the doctor had decided to give him a shot, but for some reason his memory between then and when he was back out in the hallway with the rest of his team was sketchy at best.

Focusing more on the small images he could recall, he slowly started to remember some of the details. Such as how he was fairly certain he had shoved…something, into Sakura's sensei's mouth, and was rather pleased with himself. A spinning Sharingan eye, obviously belonging to Kakashi. Bashing a few animal shaped masks into each other. Noticing that Kurenai had a great ass when she was running out of the room completely na...ked…?

Jagaa's eyes widened to impossible sizes. "Oh Shit!" He blurted out making Anko laugh. Jagaa didn't' hear her though because his mind was already running through all the possible ways Kurenai may seek retribution for his little…indiscretion, and none of them were good. Apologizing to an angry Kurenai was _not_ going to be a pleasant task. That much he was certain of.

Although, now that some of the _finer_ details were surfacing with his revelation, Jagaa couldn't help but feel it was a sight worth the beat down he was probably going to get.

Jagaa sighed. "All right, all right. It isn't gonna be pretty, but I'll apologize to her before I ask her to help Sakura with Genjutsu."

"Good boy!" Anko laughed, hugging him around the neck with one arm and mussing his hair with the other. "But you're gonna have to wait until tomorrow to do it because for the rest of the day you're _mine_."

Jagaa frowned slightly. There was something about the way Anko was acting that seemed a little off, but he couldn't place it. Deciding to worry about it later, Jagaa looked back over his shoulder at her inquiringly. "I thought you said…"

"Oh don't worry. I'm not planning to fuck you senseless." Her eyes twinkled in mirth at Jagaa's somewhat disappointed grunt. "I _do_ need a drinking buddy though."

"You do remember I'm _technically_ a minor, right? I usually only get sake from the Chinese food place that bends over backwards to make sure I'll keep eating there. It might be a bit of hassle getting my sake at an actual bar."

"Ehh, we'll deal with that issue when it comes up." Anko said dismissively before suddenly jumping up on Jagaa's back and wrapping her legs tightly around his waist. "ONWARD MY NOBLE STEED! TO THE BARS!" She yelled pumping her fist into the air.

Jagaa laughed at the older woman's antics and grasped her thighs to support her. "As you command my blood lusting nympho lady!" He yelled before he took off at a sprint to the nearest bar with Anko cheering and shouting encouragement on his back.

X X X X X

"Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!" Naruto yelled, slamming his fist into the earth with each swear. "Why can't I do it?!"

Off to the side, Jiraiya watched the boy with serious eyes as he pounded his frustration into the ground. He knew that the young boy was giving all he had. It just wasn't enough. Jiraiya had thought that the drive to beat his brother and prove him wrong would be all it would take to drive Naruto to the point he could extract the Kyuubi's chakra freely. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite working out that way, and it was looking like he would have to try the last resort he'd come up with. The consequences of it failing wouldn't be pleasant, but it may be the only way.

"Jeez bro, you're taking it kind of hard aren't you?" Gamakichi asked from next to the sleeping Gamatatsu. "I mean, yeah you suck, but you're getting better. You may even be a decent summoner by the end of the month."

Naruto glared at the orange frog. "I don't _have_ a month. It's gonna take more than just being able to summon a frog to beat Nii-san and I need time to train other skills. I have to get this down NOW!"

"HEY! Frogs are strong summons you know!" Gamakichi stated indignantly.

Any retort Naruto may have been planning was cut off when Jiraiya spoke. "You're right brat. If what I felt from that boy is any indication, then you won't be able to beat him as you are now, especially if you can't summon something useful."

"Hey! I resent that!" Gamakichi yelled.

"Then what am I supposed to do!?" Naruto shouted in frustration. "I'm trying damn it, but no matter what I do I can't pull out the other chakra. WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO!?"

Jiraiya waited to allow the boy a chance to calm down before speaking again. "Well, I do have one last idea." Naruto's head instantly snapped up to look at Jiraiya, and was surprised to see the seriousness in the old mans eyes. "However, before I tell you what it is, I need to know just how far you're willing to go for this to work?"

Naruto wasn't sure what the old pervert meant but answered with the first thing that came to mind. "I'll put my life on the line if that's what it takes. I _have_ to become strong enough to beat Nii-san!" It was a heated statement, but Naruto didn't have any plans of backing down from it.

Strangely enough, the old man just smiled at him. "That's good to hear."

X X X X X

"Sasuke, you need to take it a little easier. You won't even get to fight Neji if you kill yourself training." Kakashi said mildly as he read his (newly bought) copy of 'Icha Icha Paradise'.

Sasuke was panting in front of an extremely large boulder that had two large holes in it. His left hand was being held unsteadily in front of him, and his knees looked ready to buckle at any time. Shakily his hands when through a few seals and a white electrical aura started to surround his left hand before fizzling away. Gasping from effort, Sasuke dropped to his hands and knees in exhaustion.

"You see?" Kakashi said snapping his book shut sternly. "I told you, two shots is your limit for now. You're not going to change that yet, so stopping trying to kill yourself."

"No, I…I can still keep going." Sasuke panted with a determined grimace. "I don't want to just beat that guy, I want to humiliate him. I'm going to make him pay for what he did." Kakashi sighed at the boy's stubbornness (most likely due to Naruto's influence) and decided to pull out his trump card. It was a bit underhanded, but it was the only sure thing that would stop the boy.

"Well I guess I'll just go tell Hinata that you were to busy training to take some time off to go see her." Kakshi shrugged. He smiled victoriously behind his mask when he saw Sasuke's body visibly stiffen before he turned to glare at his sensei.

"You wouldn't dare."

Kakashi shrugged. "It wouldn't hurt me any. Besides, I'm sure Hinata would understand why training would come before your promise to visit her regularly." Kakashi told himself to remember to thank Jagaa for telling him about Sasuke and Hinata's promise so he could use it against the boy if he had to.

Sasuke was glaring daggers at his cyclopean sensei. "I hate you."

Kakashi just smiled.

After glaring at Kakashi a bit longer, Sasuke finally sighed in defeat. "All right, I get it. I'll take a break from training and go see Hinata." Sasuke's face suddenly brightened. "That's right, she's going to be released from the hospital today so we might be able to go out to lunch."

Kakashi smiled at Sasuke's renewed enthusiasm. "Sounds good. Oh, by the way, when you get back I have a new technique I want to show you. I figure it will be perfect for your goal in your fight with Neji."

Sasuke tilted his head curiously. "What technique is that?"

Kakashi's eye twinkled mischievously. "I said I'd show you when you got back. Now, go on and enjoy your date with Hinata." Kakashi was rewarded for his efforts with the sight of a heavily blushing Sasuke who quickly turned and ran away as fast as his tired legs could carry him.

"They're so cute at that age." Kakashi said to himself before taking out his little orange book and walking off in the opposite direction.

X X X X X

He was fucked.

Yes it was a very Jagaa like thing to think, but as Naruto plummeted into the dark abyss of the deep canyon he felt it was a very appropriate term. He was royally fucked.

When he had told the old pervert that he was willing to put his life on the line, falling thousands of feet to his doom was _not_ what he had in mind. Channeling chakra into his hands Naruto made a desperate attempt to grab on of the protruding rocks sticking out of the canyon wall, only to slip off and continue his deadly descent.

'_It's no good! I can't stop my self. I'm really going to die._' The air was growing cold fast and the ground grew larger with every rapid heartbeat.

'_No, I can't die like this!_' Naruto felt his insides twist in fear as the darkness closed around him. _'I have to become Hokage, I have to beat Nii-san, I CAN"T DIE LIKE THIS!_'

**Splash**

Naruto was laying on his back in a few inches of water looking up at an old stone ceiling that reminded him of some kind of sewer.

"Where am I? Am I dead?" Naruto slowly stood up and looked around the dark corridor. He felt a strange pull to one side of him, as if someone was calling to him. Naruto turned and followed the pulls guidance in a daze, unable to gather his thoughts into coherency due to the strange situation.

A deep heavy breathing finally made Naruto focus on the fact he was standing outside a closed wooden door. Naruto felt a chill run down his spine as he stood there.

He didn't want to open that door. He _shouldn't_ open that door. Every fiber in his being agreed to this, and yet still his hand grasped the handle. With a simple twist and a light push, the pathway was unblocked. Still unable to stop himself Naruto stepped through the threshold.

He was in a huge room, completely barren except for an enormous iron gate with a small piece of paper with the word 'seal' on it that stood directly in front of him. Naruto walked through the water to the gate as the deep breathing he had been hearing grew louder.

"**So my jailor finally comes to visit me."**

Naruto stopped cold at the sound of the malevolent voice. "Who's there?"

"**Pathetic boy. If anyone should know that answer, it is you."**

Behind the bars a giant face with blood red, slit eyes and hundreds of teeth formed into a malicious grin materialized. Naruto's eyes widened at the sight and only one word escaped his lips. "Kyuubi."

"**Hnhnhnhn, you catch on quickly, boy."**

Naruto couldn't believe it. Less than thirty feet in front of him was the reason the villagers hated him. The source of all his past pain. Naruto didn't know if he should be terrified or furious as he stared into the eyes of the most powerful of demons.

"**Pathetic."** The demons voice pulled Naruto from his internal struggle. **"To think I am trapped within something as worthless as you."**

The insult was finally enough to spark Naruto's anger and now had him glaring at the giant beast. "Pathetic or not, _you're_ the idiot that got himself stuck here." Much to Naruto's ire, the demon only laughed again.

"**So, the child has a spine. Most likely due to the brother's influence."**

Naruto inhaled sharply. "How do you know about Nii-san?"

"**A foolish question from a foolish creature. I am part of you. I know all that you know. Meaning I am fully aware of your brother and his past."** The Kyuubi's malicious smirk became almost longing. **"If only I could have been sealed into one such as he. It would have made this miserable fate much more bearable, to be imprisoned in one so much like myself."**

The sound of metal striking metal rang through the room as the kunai Naruto threw bounced off the steel bars. "SHUT UP! Nii-san is nothing like you!"

The blast of air let out by Kyuubi's dark laughter almost knocked Naruto off his feet. **"To think after all you know of him you can say such things. You are naive, boy. I look forward to the day that all your illusions are destroyed."**

"I told you to shut up!" Naruto yelled. "How about instead of worrying about my brother you hand over some of your damn chakra! Before we _both_ die a very gruesome death when I smash into the bottom of the chasm! We can even call it the rent you owe for being in my body."

Kyuubi let out another low laugh. **"Hnhnhn, very well boy. I will give you the power you need seeing that, as you said, if you die…I die as well."** A deep red chakra bubbled up from the floor at Naruto's feet, crawling up his legs and encasing his body with its bloody glow making him gasp from the sudden feeling surging through him. **"However, if your faith in your brother is so absolute, then bring him before me and see. With the powers of a Yamanaka, it is possible."** Naruto's vision started blurring and the room darkened as he was overwhelmed by the power encasing him, Kyuubi's final words seeming far away. **"Do not make me wait long..."**

Naruto's eyes snapped open and he was once again falling to his doom in the deep chasm, but this time a familiar feeling of intense power was flowing through him.

'_This…this is the feeling._' Naruto thought as he bit his thumb and flashed through the seals.

"_KUCHIOSE NO JUTSU_!" Naruto yelled and shoved his hand down into the empty air. A huge plum of smoke erupted below him and his fall came to an abrupt stop when he landed on the head of a giant red enormous red frog wearing a blue Haori and a Tanto on his waist. It took Naruto a minute to realize that he was no longer descending into the shadowy depths, but once he did, he started jumping around in relief and shouting excitedly. "I did it! I summoned a giant frog! AND I'M STILL ALIVE!" 

"**Hey, brat, just whose head do you think you're hopping on."** A deep, throaty voice boomed at him.

The mass below him tilted and Naruto was sent careening head first onto the frog's massive nose. Pushing himself to his hands and knees, Naruto looked up into a pair of extremely large amphibian eyes.

"Uhmmm, Hi?"

"**Who the hell are you boy?"** The giant animal yelled in irritation causing Naruto to flinch from the volume.

"Uh, Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto stated a bit timidly under the frogs narrowed gaze.

"**Naruto? I've heard that name before. You are the new summoner with no talent that my son has been talking about. Are you trying to tell me that **_**you**_** summoned me?"**

"WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP SAYING THAT!?" Naruto shouted. "It was that damn Ero-sennin's fault I couldn't summon anything large! He kept making me use up all of my chakra before he'd let me try!" Naruto glared into one of the frog's eyes. "And yes, as a matter of fact I _did_ summon you! I didn't have much of a choice if I didn't want to be turned into a pancake at the bottom of this damn hole!"

The frog looked at Naruto for a long while before bursting out laughing.

"What the hell is so funny?" Naruto yelled, his voice barely even registering over the thunderous laughter.

"**I don't care if you have signed the contract or not, the very thought that a brat like you could have summoned me, the frog boss Gamabunta, is laughable."**

Naruto's face reddened in anger. "Shove it up your ass you over sized appetizer! I did to summon you!"

Immediately the laughter stopped and Gamabunta's eyes narrowed on the blonde on his nose. **"What did you just say? You actually dare to talk to **_**me**_** with such disrespect? Do you want me to kill you?"**

Before Naruto could respond, an extremely large tongue wrapped around him and threw him onto the frogs back. Naruto barely had time to set himself properly before Gamabunta launched himself straight up through the chasm and high into the air before crashing into the forest with such force that a typhoon like wind tore for miles through the surrounding area. Naruto was almost thrown from Gamabunta's back by the force of the impact, but managed to catch hold of the blue cloth on his back and stop himself.

Gamabunta gave a disappointed grunt. **"Huh, I'm surprised. I thought for sure you would fall off my back. I guess you're not quite as weak as you look."**

Needless to say, that last comment didn't sit well with Naruto. "Heh, I'm going to be the Hokage. There's no way I'd fall off the back of some lousy frog."

Gamabunta's voice dropped dangerously. **"I dare you to say that again you little brat."**

"I'll say it as many times as you want to hear it! I could stay up here all day and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it, Bug Breath!"

"**THAT'S **_**IT**_**, BRAT!"** Gamabunta yelled angrily and started thrashing around making Naruto have to cling desperately so as not to be thrown off. **"After I get you off of me, I'm going to smack you around for all your insults!"**

"Kiss my ass you damn frog! I said I'd stay on here all day and I meant it! UZUMAKI NARUTO NEVER GOES BACK ON HIS WORD!"

From a long, _long_, way away, Jiraiya watched the scene through his collapsible telescope normally reserved for peeking. "That brat sure knows how to get him self into trouble. I wonder if he'll survive." A loud feminine squeal pulled the perverts attention away from the two locked in a battle of wills down to a few swimsuit clad women playing in the water.

"Uhuhuhu, but right now I'll just have to wish Naruto luck. It would be a shame to let such great _research_ pass me up after all." With a perverted giggle, the old man aimed his telescope at the splashing women below, ignoring the sounds of landscape being destroyed in the distance behind him.

X X X X X

Sasuke and Hinata walked side by side through the bustling streets of Konoha with no real destination in mind. It had been almost four hours since Hinata's release from the hospital, and two and a half since they had eaten lunch together, but still Sasuke made no attempts to take the girl home so that he go back to training, nor had she mad any indication that she wanted an end to the day so she could rest. Deep down Sasuke was sure he should feel guilty that he was neglecting his training, but all he had to do was look at the face of the girl beside him for that feeling to be crushed, burned, and scattered in the wind.

"Ano, are you sure it's okay for you to be away from training for so long?" Hinata asked quietly as if reading Sasuke's thoughts. Even if Sasuke could have thought up a reason to go back before then, all desire to do so was destroyed by that simple question.

"It's fine. The pervert is probably glad I'm taking so long since it gives him more time to read that book of his uninterrupted." Sasuke glowered. "Between him and Jagaa, I'm not sure who the bigger pervert is."

Hinata giggled and Sasuke smiled. He really did love to hear her laugh.

"So what did you want to do?" Sasuke asked her. "Did you have anything planned for your first day out of the hospital?"

"Ano, not really. I'm fine just walking with you like this." Hinata's face reddened as she answered.

Sasuke felt his own cheeks heat up slightly. "Oh, well, I guess that's all right then. If that's what you really want." After that the two of them fell into an awkward silence as they walked through the street.

Sasuke couldn't stop himself from stealing glances at the shy girl beside him. How was it that this shy, lavender haired girl had come to have such an effect on him? It was as if her very presence was all he needed to feel at peace, even if his heart was in turmoil. It was something he would have never even imagined possible before he met her less than two months ago, but now…he wasn't sure he could bear it if she wasn't there anymore.

Sasuke took a deep calming breath and looked over to the girl beside him. "Say, Hinata…" He started, when two very loud and obnoxious voices singing _extremely_ off key cut him short. It may not have surprised him so much, if it weren't for the fact he recognized one of the voices.

"Hey look, Anko-chan!" Jagaa yelled to the purple haired woman next to him. "It's Sasu-ta and Hina-ke!"

Anko stopped her awful singing and squinted at the pair. "I don't really know who they are, but if Jagaa-chan knows them then they must be good drinkers." She shoved a large bottle at Hinata grinning widely. "Drink up girly. There's plenty to go around."

"Ano…" Hinata moved away nervously and Sasuke stepped in front of her protectively. "First off, we're minors so we can't drink! Second, she just got out of the hospital today so leave her alone!"

Anko pouted and turned to Jagaa with tears in her eyes. "Jaaagggggaaaaaa-chaaaannnnn, he yelled at me!"

"Ahh, poor Anko-chan." Jagaa pulled her into a hug and patted her head. "There there, it's okay now."

Sasuke and Hinata exchanged a confused glance before Sasuke addressed the pair. "What are the two of you doing?"

"I believe we were singing." Jagaa said thoughtfully as he swayed on his feet before turning to Anko again. "Were we singing?"

Anko's tears vanished and she held up the bottle of Sake proudly. "I don't know about singing, but we were definitely drinking!"

"Then let's drink some more!" Jagaa yelled, jumping up to and snatching the bottle from her hand before taking a long draft. His face took on a look of comic surprise as he pulled bottle away from his mouth, shaking it upside down. "Ahh, we're out of Sake!"

"WHAT!?" Anko screamed and ripped the bottle from his hand to mimic his actions. "Damn it! What are we supposed to do now?" She pouted.

Jagaa put his finger to his temple in thought. "Hmm…we could kill somebody."

To Sasuke and Hinata's horror (as well as anyone else who happened to be watching) Anko's face lit up with excitement. "That's a great idea." She paused and frowned again. "But who would we kill?"

"How about him?" Jagaa pointed to a random man in the crowd, said man instantly going pale.

Sasuke actually smacked his himself in the face out of irritation. Why the hell did he have to stumble across _these_ two, while they were _drunk_ no less, when he was spending time with Hinata? He pulled his hand away from his face and was about to yell at the two of them, but was beaten by the voice of the last person he expected to speak up.

"Ano, You c-can't go around k-killing random people, you know." Hinata said, her nervousness marked by the reappearance of her stutter.

Anko and Jagaa just looked at the girl, blinking owlishly (or at least Anko did, it was hard to tell with Jagaa since his sunglasses were on). "Why?" They asked in perfect unison.

There was a loud crash as nearly everyone within hearing range fell over.

"B-because you're both ninja of Konoha, and you'd get in trouble." Hinata (one of the few to actually keep their feet) replied.

"Damn, she's right." Anko whined. "I forgot about that." (Another loud crash) "So what do we do then?"

"Hmmmm…." Both Jagaa and Anko tilted their heads and held their chins in deep thought.

"Sex?" Anko asked hopefully, but Jagaa just shook his head.

"If we do that, I won't have the energy to train Sa-hic, Sa-hic…grrr…that girl I've been helping. You said so yourself."

Anko pouted but complied and the two of them resumed their thinking positions.

Sasuke moved next to Hinata and leaned next to her ear. "Now might be a good time to leave." He whispered conspiratorially. Hinata nodded and the two of them turned to leave. Unfortunately, it was that moment that Jagaa's head snapped up triumphantly.

"I'VE GOT IT!" He snapped his head over to an eagerly listening Anko. "Since Sasuke and Hinata won't drink with us or let us kill anyone. LET'S MAKE THEM KISS AS PUNISHMENT!"

Anko tilted her head in confusion. "How is that punishment?" Jagaa simply smirked and pointed, turning Anko's attention back to the two _very_ heavily blushing teens and an evil smile graced her lips. "Kissing it is."

"You can't _make_ us _kiss_!" Sasuke yelled. "We're not even dating yet!"

Jagaa and Anko were instantly in Sasuke's face smiling wickedly. "_Yet_?" The asked, putting heavy emphasis on the word.

Sasuke froze wide eyed before he started sputtering. "I mean…I just…I wasn't……SHUT UP!" Sasuke was almost as red as Hinata (the poor girl herself looking about to pass out) as he glared at the snickering pair. "Anyway, you can't force us kiss and you know it." He regretted saying it when the two drunk's smiles went from evil, to downright sinister.

"Then you can't stop us from following you all day." Jagaa stated smugly.

"Singing love songs!" Anko added.

"And giving you tips from 'Icha Icha Paradise'!"

"And trying those tips out in front of you!"

"And…Anko stop grabbing my ass!"

"But I _like_ your ass!"

"Well it's a little difficult to walk comfortably with a hard on!"

"I can take care of that for you!"

Sasuke was horrified, and if the look on Hinata's face was any indication, so was she. Being followed around all day by _these two_. The very idea of it made Sasuke want to run into a dark corner and cry.

"So you two gonna kiss or what?" Jagaa asked. "Oh, and don't try to run either. Neither of you are good enough to get away from me, and definitely not Anko-chan."

Sasuke was caught, his gaze shifting back and forth from the furiously blushing Hinata and the grinning Jagaa. "I…I can't just kiss her like that. We haven't even been dating and…"

"What were all those lunch get togethers then?" Jagaa smirked and Sasuke choked on his words. Damn, that could be considered dating couldn't it.

"That…that's still not…" Sasuke couldn't even think of a decent argument anymore.

"Tch, fine." Jagaa said making Sasuke's eyes snap to him. "If you're too much of a prude to kiss her on the lips, I'll let you slide with a kiss on the cheek. Hell, even Ino managed that much, and she did it on her own. That's my last offer though."

Sasuke was about to try to argue that that had been Ino's _choice_, but a soft voice from behind him stopped him.

"Ano…I t-think that would be o-okay, Sasuke-kun." Hinata said hesitantly, pressing her fingers together. Her face was still flushed from embarrassment, but Sasuke couldn't help but be captivated by how cute she looked at that moment.

"KISS HER! KISS HER! KISS HER!" Anko and Jagaa started chanting, easily drawing the attention of everyone in the area. Blushing heavily, Sasuke leaned in and Hinata turned her head to the side a little to make it easier for Sasuke to access her flaming cheeks.

"Sorry, Hinata." He whispered as he slowly closed the distance.

"I-it's okay, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke's heart was pounding. Even if it was only a small kiss on the cheek, for some reason Sasuke felt that once he did it something would be changed between him and Hinata. Something he both wanted, and feared at the same time. He was almost there, just a little more.

"Hey, Hinata!" Jagaa called from the side.

Hinata's face turned instinctively at the sound of her name just as Sasuke was about to kiss her cheek. Imagine the state of shock the two were put in when the found themselves in a very real, full on kiss to the lips. It took approximately five seconds for what happened to actually register in their minds (the whole time in which they were still lip locked) but as soon as it did, Hinata's face turned so red that it looked like smoke poured out of her ears before she fainted dead away. Sasuke was just coherent enough to catch her before she crashed to the ground, but now found himself holding an unconscious Hinata in an awkwardly intimate way.

"Huh, uh, oh, hey, Hinata." Sasuke shook the girl lightly to try to rouse her before snapping his head to the side. "Jagaa! This is all your fau…" His words died away when he found that neither the source of his current predicament or his accomplice were anywhere to be seen.

"That Kami damned mother fu…" Sasuke was stopped mid way through his rant by a quiet moan.

"Uhhnn, Sasuke-kun?" Hinata murmured and opened her lavender eyes to find herself looking directly into Sasuke's coal ones. With a startled 'Eep' she tripped backwards out of Sasuke's arms but was saved when Sasuke's left hand shot out and caught her right one, keeping her upright.

"Are you okay, Hinata?" He asked in concern as he helped steady her.

"H-Hai." Hinata's face was still a deep red, but at least it looked like she would stay conscious this time.

"I, uh, I'm sorry…about the kiss, you know. I didn't expect you to turn your head like that." Sasuke was mentally screaming obscenities about who had been responsible for the accident. Unfortunately, some of the scathing comments were being cut off by a small part of his mind that was doing cartwheels and shouting for joy at the event, despite Sasuke's best efforts to crush it out of existence.

"Ano, i-it's okay, Sasuke-kun." She shifted her eyes to the side with a shy smile on her face, and Sasuke was once again struck by how cute she looked.

"Oh…um…well that's good then." Sasuke said with a nervous laugh before looking around for Jagaa and Anko again. "It looks like they left, but we should probably get out of here before they decide to come back." Sasuke looked back at the girl and noticed that she didn't seem to be paying attention. Instead, her eyes seemed glued to something below them. Sasuke followed her eyes and froze.

Since Sasuke had caught Hinata's hand to keep her from falling, he had yet to let go.

Sasuke laughed nervously, (silently cursing himself for how _Narutoish_ he was, and had been acting) and looked up at Hinata. "Uh, heheh, sorry about that, Hinata." He started to pull his hand away, when a sudden pressure on his wrist stopped him and he gaped at the sight of Hinata holding his hand in place with her own free one. "H-Hinata?"

Hinata was shifting uncomfortably back and forth, refusing to meet Sasuke's eyes, with her face so red he thought for sure she was going to faint again. "A-ano, S-Sasuke-kun…d-do you t-think, m-maybe….c-could we, s-s-stay, l-like this?"

Now Sasuke could remember many times in the past when he had been shocked, stunned, amazed, confused, and over all flabbergasted throughout his life, but this time towered above the rest.

Hinata! Shy, stuttering, unconfident,_ Hinata_, was, for all intensive purposes, making the first move. Sasuke was unable to do anything but stare at Hinata like an idiot with his mouth opening and closing like a fish as his brain tried to rebuild itself due to meltdown.

Hinata's face was slowly growing defeated, and a bit hurt, as Sasuke continued to stare at her without answering. "I-Im sorry. I s-shouldn't have…" Her grip lessened and her hands started sliding off.

The feeling was enough to finally bring Sasuke back to reality and he instantly grabbed her hand again. "DON"T LET GO!" Sasuke yelled, startling the shy girl. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts he spoke in a soft voice. "I mean…I would be happy….you know…to stay like this." This time it was Sasuke's turn to be unable to meet Hinata's eyes.

He felt Hinata's grip tighten ever so slightly, and saw her small nod through the corner of his eye. For a long time, the two just stood in silence, neither one really sure what to say next as the crowds of people passed by them on either side.

"So…" Sasuke started with a small bit of nervousness still evident in his voice. "We still have a few hours until dinner. Do you, uh, want to go to the park or…something?" He looked through the sides of his eyes at her, not really trusting himself to try to look directly at her.

Hinata's face was still flushed red as she looked to the ground and spoke softly, a small smile on her face. "Hai, I would like that very much."

Sasuke nodded, a small smile of his own in place, and started walking with Hinata, hand in hand down the crowded street.

X X X

From an alleyway behind them, two figures watched Sasuke and Hinata walk away holding hands with proud smirks.

"Well that worked out a hell of a lot better than I hoped. Especially considering it was an 'on the fly' idea when we spotted them in the crowd." Jagaa said as he watched the pair leave.

"Hmm, I'll say, but doesn't doing something like this go against that 'No Lying' policy of yours?" Anko asked as she leaned over his shoulder.

"Hey, he never asked if I was actually drunk. So I never lied to him." Jagaa shrugged and pulled back deeper into the alley. "By the way, thanks for your help."

Anko just smirked. "No problem, it was actually a lot of fun, especially grabbing your ass."

"I'll bet." Jagaa replied dryly before pausing to look over at the older woman. "Hey, are you okay, Anko? You've been acting a little strange today."

It was so fast that Jagaa almost missed it. In fact, he was pretty sure that if he hadn't lived with Naruto for so long that he _would_ have missed it, but as it was he managed to catch the way Anko's smile faltered ever so slightly before coming back stronger than ever. "Hmm, I don't know what you mean, Jagaa-chan. I'm just fine."

She was lying. Even without his ability he could have seen that. He had seen the same thing many times when somebody would mistreat Naruto and the boy would try to hide it from him. What bothered him more was that he was almost certain that Anko _knew_ he could tell when people were lying, and yet she was still doing it anyway. It peeked his curiosity to no end, but he also realized that if someone is going to try to lie to someone they know can't be lied to, then they _really_ didn't want to talk about it. He decided it was best to just honor her wishes.

Besides, he knew better than anyone that there were some things you just didn't want talk about.

"All right, I got it." He saw a small amount of relief flash across her face and was glad he decided not to push the issue. "So, we going drinking or what? Just remember, it was your idea so you're buying."

"What? That's not fair." Anko pouted.

"Hey, you're the _responsible_ adult, right? So you'd have to buy any way. I just won't be reimbursing you."

"Greedy bastard."

Still bantering easily, the strange pair left the alley and resumed their journey to find more alcohol.

X X X X X

Naruto panted heavily while he kneeling on the snout of the giant Gamabunta as the sun slowly sank behind the horizon, a huge grin on his exhausted face. "Hah, I win you damn frog! I stayed on your back for the entire day."

"**Tch, fine brat. I'll admit that there's more to you than I was giving you credit for, but that's it."** Naruto was pleased to hear the sullen tone in the frog bosses voice and grinned (if possible) even wider.

"Ah, that's okay. Admitting your mistake is always the first step." Naruto patted the frog on the nose impudently.

"**Keep it up boy and I really will kill you."** Naruto immediately stopped, deciding it might be best not to push his luck any more than he already had with the very large amphibian. **"I will, however, grant my blessing on you summoning my kind. Call it your reward for staying on my back despite my best efforts."**

Despite being pleased (and a little cocky) from his victory, Naruto still knew when it was a good idea to be gracious. "Thank you."

"**Whatever, I'm leaving now. All this exercise today has worn me out. See ya later, Brat."** With a giant puff of smoke Gamabunta disappeared. This of course had a secondary effect of taking away what Naruto was standing on and now he was falling to the ground rather quickly. Fortunately, he was saved when a large white haired man jumped into the air and caught him before landing gracefully on the ground.

"Looks like you survived, eh brat." Jiraiya smiled as he set Naruto unsteadily on his feet.

"Heh, of course I did. I'm Uzumaki Naruto. No one can beat me." He grinned tiredly.

"Except that brother or yours, huh?"

"I'm working on that."

Jiraiya grinned wider and clapped the boy on the back. "Well now that you've finally completed this step of the training, we can start on improving your abilities over all. What do you think?"

"Sounds good, Ero-sennin," Naruto panted. "But there's one thing I have to do before we start."

Jiraiya frowned down at him. "Oh, and what's that?"

"Pass out." Jiraiya just managed to catch Naruto before he fell heavily to the ground.

"Hm, the brat must have used all of his chakra and then some." Jiraiya observed as he hoisted the sleeping blonde over his shoulder. "It makes sense considering what happened to day." With an amused smile at the boy he was carrying, Jiraiya started walking in the direction of Konoha.

"Still," Jiraiya spoke thoughtfully. "He's wasted a full week on learning to draw out the Kyuubi's chakra. With only three weeks left until his fight, will he be able to get strong enough to beat that brother of his? It will be interesting to find out."

X X X X X

Jagaa smiled lightly as he finished tucking the loudly snoring Anko into bed. It had been an interesting evening if nothing else.

After a few hours of steady drinking, with Anko doing most of the drinking, the woman had gone into some kind of depression and started ranting incoherently. Jagaa didn't know who the 'snake fucking son of pig's shit stain' she kept mumbling about was, but as soon as Anko started clinging to him and crying broken heartedly, Jagaa decided the fucker had definitely earned a top spot on his 'Must Kill' list.

If only he knew.

Jagaa moved to pull away from the woman, but as he did she reached out and grabbed his hand, whimpering slightly. Jagaa's soft smile widened fondly as he leaned down and whispered to her reassuringly before kissing her brotherly on the forehead. When he pulled away this time she frowned a little but didn't try to grab him again.

'_It's hard to tell who's actually younger here._' Jagaa thought fondly. With a last look and smile at the sleeping woman, Jagaa exited through the window and closed it behind him. A few seconds later he was running across the roof tops in the direction of the forest, enjoying the night air rushing over his skin. Before long the roof tops turned to tree tops, and soon after he leapt through the air to land in the center of small clearing. With a sigh of contentment, Jagaa sat down on the grassy floor with his left leg extended in front of him and his right bent up so he could rest his arms on it, looking up at the starry sky.

His thoughts drifted through the events of the last week. His training with Sakura, his growing friendship with Anko, the fact he still needed to apologize to Kurenai (That thought causing him to cringe), his little push today for Sasuke and Hinata, and finally, his last encounter with Naruto.

He remembered the fire in his younger brother's eyes, the unwavering resolve to win. Jagaa was proud of him, but he still knew that Naruto wasn't strong enough to beat him just yet.

'_Three weeks left, Naruto._' A soft breeze blew through the trees, gently moving his hair as he stared into the night sky.'_In three weeks time, will you be able to stand against me?_'

Several miles away, resting on a hospital bed, Naruto turned over in his sleep, his hand closing into a loose fist and raising slightly off of the bed as he mumbled softly.

"Believe it."

**A/N:** Well, there you have it. Hope it was at least somewhat worth the wait. Until next time. Ja ne.


	18. Finally Here

Chapter 18:

**A/N: **Well, I know it's been a while, but I finally got the next chap out. Hopefully it's not _too_ bad. Anyway, if you actually took the time to read this AN, then make sure you read the one at the end of the chap as well. It's fairly important if you actually care about this story at all.

**Disclaimer:** Nope, don't own Naruto. Why? I ask myself that as well every night as I cry myself to sleep over it.

**Chapter 18:** Finally Here

The day had finally arrived.

The final day of the Chuunin exams had finally arrived and the village of Konoha was abuzz with excitement. Everyone in the village was talking about it, with the hottest topic of discussion being the matches, or more specifically, two of the matches.

The first, being the face off between the two Geniuses of the two most prestigious clans in Konoha, Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Neji.

The second, and almost bigger topic, being the ensuing battle of the two most well known individuals, be it due to hatred, fear, respect, or a combination of the three, Uzumaki Naruto and Jagaa.

To think that those four famous faces would be matched up in that particular pairing was something that villagers could have only dreamed possible, and if ever there had been a Chuunin exam that people would kill to be at, it was this one. Already several riots had broken out in the last few weeks as people fought tooth and nail to get tickets to the event. Rumors were even flying that people really _had _killed to get a ticket. Of course those were only rumors, but the veritable sea of thousands of people standing out side a giant out door arena trying to force their way in faster to get better seats made them somewhat believable. The excitement only grew as time moved on and the stadium slowly filled.

It had finally arrived.

X X X X X

"So, today's the day, huh?" Kankuro asked mildly as he and the rest of team Suna were getting ready to leave for the stadium.

"Yeah." Temari sighed.

"What is it, Temari?" Their Jounin Sensei, Baki, asked.

"I…I don't like it." Temari muttered. "So many lives were lost before we finally achieved peace, and we're just going to throw it all away because of our fa…I mean, the Kazekage's ambitions."

The room when quiet and Temari's words hung in the air between the group.

"It can't be helped." Baki finally broke the silence. "We are Ninja of Suna. We must abide by the will of the Kazekage."

"I know that." Temari said looking up into his eyes a bitter grimace on her face. "But that still doesn't make it any more pleasant."

"Well I don't know about you," Kankuro spoke up, "but I'm just glad that the signal to start the invasion is during Gaara's match. That means that even if I win, I won't have to fight that Jagaa guy." Temari shuddered her agreement.

A spike of killing intent washed over them and all three of them warily looked over to Gaara who was staring out the window. Every day for the last month, it had taken all three of constantly reasoning with and placating the red haired boy to keep him from trying to hunt down the black wearing teenager. It had been hard, and more than a little dangerous, to calm the boy's bloodlust.

"Gaara, remember the plan." Baki said.

"I will kill him." Gaara growled looking at them all with bloodlust clear in his eyes. "And anyone who stands in my way."

The other three looked between each other nervously, each praying that Gaara would at least hold himself back until the signal for the attack.

X X X X X

Sakura had a small blush on her face as she faced the mirror examining her new clothes, still amazed how much of a difference her change of style had made on her.

Her red dress had been replaced by a sleeveless red belly shirt, and a pair of tight, black spandex pants that ended about midway down her shins. A black kunai pouch was strapped to her right thigh to make room for the kodaichi she now had strapped to her lower back and her hands had been covered by a pair of black fingerless gloves. Even her hair was shorter, now reaching just above her shoulders instead of (to her) past her waist, with her hitai-ate in its usual place on her head.

Sakura couldn't deny that she looked pretty good.

"I'll have to thank Kurenai-sensei after the tournament." She said thoughtfully, "She was right, I really do feel like a real Kunoichi now." She had thought Kurenai had just been trying to make her feel better when the red eyed woman had dragged her into the clothing store intent on giving Sakura a make over and saying 'If you start dressing like you're a serious Kunoichi, you'll start _feeling_ more like a serious Kunoichi'. True, Sakura was still a little upset about the loss of her hair, but she knew she'd get used to it eventually.

Sakura's hand dipped down to the kodachi on her back and she stroked the handle affectionately. It had been a gift from Jagaa a couple weeks into their training together, along with lessons on how to use it as part of their sparring sessions. It was funny, how much the simple gift had meant to her, almost to the point that she had started to wonder if she was developing a crush on the older boy, but after a few more sparring sessions she realized that it wasn't a crush, no, it was more like, admiration.

She had begun to respect him, to trust him.

She wasn't sure exactly when she had begun to value his opinion so. Maybe it was when he made her look inside herself and find a reason for wanting to be stronger. Maybe it was because he didn't treat her like a fragile little girl when they trained, even to the point she had woken up almost too stiff to move the next day. It really didn't matter anymore. She just knew that when he gave her the short blade, she somehow felt that he had acknowledged her, that she hadn't just wasted his time by training with her, and it made her happier than she could have thought possible.

"I won't disappoint him." Sakura said with conviction to her reflected self, "I'll make sure he never regrets helping me." With one last look at herself, Sakura turned away from the mirror and headed out of her room to get some breakfast. As she made her way down to the kitchen, Sakura couldn't help the small smirk that came to her lips.

'_Ino pig isn't going to know what hit her._'

X X X X X

Ino was in high spirits as she darted around her room getting ready to leave for the stadium. It had been a month since she had last seen Naruto. A _month_! She had managed to plead and beg her way into several days off during the time to try to run into him, but she never could. A couple times she had even gone to his house, but each time there was no one there. She wasn't sure if she wanted to hug him the next time she saw him, or knock the crap out of him for the days of training she wasted by begging out so she could go look for him.

Then again, it wasn't all that big a deal considering her first opponent was Sakura.

Ino smirked. She couldn't believe how lucky she was. She was almost a shoe in for at least the semifinals as far she could see it. She knew Sakura's skill level was _far_ below her own. Hell, the girl had barely improved at all since the academy. Beating her would be a cake walk, leaving Ino still fresh and ready for her next match.

She remembered that it was the Suna girl and her old class mate Aburame Shino, that were going to be fighting after her, just as she knew that neither of them were pushovers. She would have to watch both of them carefully when they fought so she would be ready to fight whichever one won, but she was almost certain that they would exhaust each other enough to give her a decent advantage that could allow her to take the win.

That would mean that in the end she would be going up against Jagaa in the semi finals. She would just give up then. After all, she knew from experience that she couldn't beat him.

Ino felt guilty that she was so certain it would be Jagaa she met in the Semis. Even though she knew Naruto was a lot stronger than people believed, and was certainly stronger than herself, she was certain that he wouldn't be able to beat Jagaa one on one. To be honest, she really didn't like the fact that they had to fight each other at all and was hoping that one of them would just forfeit and let the other advance, but deep down she knew that would never happen.

With a sigh, Ino grabbed her weapons pouch and attached it to her waist before leaving her room and going down to the kitchen. She saw her parents sitting at the table already eating and smiled happily. "Good morning!" She said as she kissed each of them on the cheek before going to the cupboard and pulling out a box of cereal.

"Good morning Sweety." Her mom said with a smile. "Are you ready for the big day?"

Ino smiled confidently as she sat down with her breakfast. "Of course. They won't know what hit them."

"Are you sure, Princess?" Inoichi asked. "You took almost a week off from training in total. Are you sure you're ready for your matches?"

"Oh come on daddy." Ino scoffed. "My first fight is with _Sakura_ for crying out loud. There's no way I'm worried about fighting _her_. It's almost as if I was fighting a rookie fresh from the academy."

Inoichi sighed at his daughter's ignorance. '_At least it will be a good lesson for her_.' He thought before looking up at her and clearing his throat. "Did you know that Jagaa and the examiner from the second exam, Anko, have become pretty good friends lately?"

Ino looked up in surprise. "That crazy lady?" At Inoichi's nod she started laughing a little and shaking her head. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

Inoichi smiled lightly before continuing. "Well as it happens, I went to the Jounin bar about a week ago and just happened to run into Anko, who for some reason was looking a bit down. After having a few drinks together she admitted to me that she was feeling kind of depressed that her little 'Jagaa-chan' couldn't spend time with her because he was always training that pink haired girl." Inoichi rubbed his chin in feigned thought as he discreetly watched his daughter. "I wonder what she meant." He almost laughed when he saw the look of understanding and panic flash across his daughter's face, and did laugh when she conveyed her feelings on the matter.

"Oh shit!"

X X X X X

Sasuke walked alone through the empty streets of the Uchiha clan district. It had only been a couple of months that he had been living with Naruto and Jagaa in their new home, but it was starting to feel like a lifetime.

It was strange.

Every time before now when he had walked down these same streets, he had been assaulted with the memories of that fateful night. He would see the bodies of his clansmen lying in pools of their own blood in the middle of the street with the kind old woman and her husband dead in front of their shop. He would relive the images Itachi had forced upon him, making him watch how the man had ruthlessly slaughtered everyone in the clan, including their own parents, without any hesitation.

Even after his conversation with Jagaa all those years ago, it would still spark those buried desires to make the man pay. To make that him suffer for what he had done before killing him the man suffer for what he had done before killing him. Even after becoming friends with both Naruto and Jagaa, and learning to live a happy life in spite of the dark events clouding his past, Sasuke still hadn't been able to put it completely behind him, and for a long time, he thought he never would.

However, as he walked through the streets now, he realized that something _had_ changed. For the first time since that night, he could see the happier times. He saw children playing Ninja and shouting about how they were going to join the police force when they grew up. He saw women shopping and laughing while the men drank and boasted with each other. He saw smiles. He saw laughs. But most importantly…

He saw life.

When was it that he had been able to start truly moving past it? Was it when he saw firsthand what living only for revenge could turn someone into that day on the bridge? Was it when Jagaa told him to grow strong to protect what you have, not avenge what you've lost? Both those incidents were a contributor, Sasuke knew that, but it was when the image of a pale eyed girl flashed through his mind that he knew the largest reason he was finally moving on.

Ever since Hinata had come into his life, it was like some sort of void in him was being closed a little more each day. Every time she smiled, every time she laughed, every time she blushed, he felt a warmth in his heart that had never been there before. Having her near him made him happy, and because of that, he was able to fully remember the happiness that had once existed in these empty streets.

The process that had been started four years ago, when he talked to Naruto in that out of the way training area, had finally been completed by a shy girl that had worked her way deep into his heart.

"And that bastard hurt her!" He growled low in his throat as an image of Neji appeared in his mind. "That son of a bitch has _no _idea how lucky he is that Hinata made me promise not to kill him or permanently cripple him!" Sasuke's face took on a smirk of pure evil. "Too bad for him she forgot to say anything about _humiliating_ him! He's gonna wish I _had_ killed him when I'm done with him!"

Looking up to the sky, Sasuke saw that the sun had risen considerably. It was time to start heading to the exam stadium. Looking back into the empty streets, Sasuke smiled.

"Everyone, watch me. I'll make you all proud by how I live."

Though it may have been a trick of the light, as Sasuke walked away it appeared as if there were two people standing in the middle of the street behind him. Proud smiles shining clearly on their faces before they vanished with the breeze.

X X X X X

'_Today, huh?_' Jagaa thought as he sat in the window sill of the room wearing only his black pants, watching the sun slowly rising in the distance. His scars shadowed and defined on his uncovered torso, and his rarely seen eyes glowing in the morning light with the absence of his sunglasses. As he sat there, a soft set of arms encircled him from the side and cheek rested on his shoulder.

"You're up early." The seventeen year old girl said as she traced the long scar across his chest. "Can't sleep?"

"I hardly ever sleep these days." Jagaa replied before looking back at the girl beside him. "What about you, Lyn? Shouldn't you try to catch some more sleep before you have to go to work?"

"It'll be fine. With everyone going to the Chuunin exam it's going to be a slow day anyway." Lyn frowned at him slightly. "More importantly, are you okay?"

Jagaa looked at her curiously. "I'm good as ever. Why?"

"You had another nightmare."

Jagaa's eyes widened slightly before he turned away from the dark haired girl. "So you heard."

Lyn nodded. "Lately you've been having them frequently." Lyn already knew the answer to her next question, but she asked anyway. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really. Besides, I already know what's causing them."

Lyn shook her head. It was always the same. Anytime Jagaa was troubled he would refuse to talk about it. "You know, it's all right for you to tell people when something's bothering you." Lyn's voice took on a noticeable edge. "Or is it that you still don't trust me?"

Jagaa rounded on her, his eyes hardening slightly as they locked onto her own. "Don't try to pull that shit on me, Lyn. We both know that you're looking into the proof that I trust you."

Lyn flinched guiltily and towards the ground, unable to meet his gaze. She knew well how sensitive Jagaa was about his eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound like that. It's just that, you're my best friend. If you can't tell even tell _me_ what's bothering you, then who can you tell?"

Jagaa sighed and looked away from the girl. "I'm sorry, Lyn."

The two of them sat in silence for a time staring out the window at the rising sun.

"You bring up an interesting question though." Jagaa said in a light voice. "Why weren't we ever able to move past just being friends?"

Lyn knew he was just trying to change the subject, since they were both fully aware of the answer. The truth was that they _had_ tried to be more than just friends with benefits a while back, but it just hadn't felt right to either of them. So they had gone back to they way they were now and had been just fine with it. They had even made an agreement that if one of them should ever get into a relationship with someone else, they would stop their nocturnal activities and just be regular best friends.

Lyn was about to use her regular response of, 'You're just too young for a mature woman like me' response, when she remembered something from a few weeks back. Smiling impishly, she answered. "Well if what I overheard in that coffee shop a while back is true. It's probably because you have a thing for that girl who puts her hair up in buns."

That was when Lyn saw something she had thought she would never see…Jagaa falling out of the window sill in surprise and landing on the floor with a loud 'thud'.

"What? Are you talking about, Mousey? You got to be kidding! I'll admit she's cute, especially with her hair down, but she hates my guts! Hell, she throws kunai at me almost every time she sees me! Why would I be interested in her?" Jagaa was breathing a bit hard as he finished, still sitting on the ground.

Lyn nearly squealed in delight at Jagaa's reaction. She had _never_ seen him get flustered like this over _any_ female. Oh, this was a very good sign. "Oh, '_Mousey_' is it? I don't think I've ever heard you give a girl a nickname before. She must have _really_ caught your attention." Lyn smirked victoriously at Jagaa's trapped expression.

Jagaa gaped at the girl standing above him and Lyn was feeling quite pleased with herself. At least, she was until Jagaa looked down to the floor, his shining eyes going dull and a sad smile coming to his lips. "Maybe you're right."

Lyn's merriment died as she frowned down at her friend. She had seen that look before. "You plan on avoiding her now, don't you?" when Jagaa made no answer she continued in a low voice. "Is it because you're still blaming yourself?"

Jagaa still didn't look at her, but responded with a voice filled with self loathing. "Who else is there to blame?"

"A lot of people, but even if I told you all of them, it wouldn't make a difference would it?"

"No…it wouldn't."

Lyn sighed again as she heard Jagaa stand up and move over to the bed to gather his things and put his shirt and boots back on. "So, you're going to leave." It wasn't really a question.

"I have to go talk to the old man before the tournament starts, so yeah." Jagaa said as he finished adjusting his sword to his back.

Lyn heard him walking up behind her and waited until he was beside her. "That's not what I meant."

Jagaa moved passed her and stood in front of the window, sliding his sunglasses back on his face. "I know."

Lyn sighed as she turned and took a few steps away from the window before stopping and speaking back over her shoulder. "You know, Jagaa. It's not a crime for you to be happy." There was a moment of silence before Jagaa's low voice reached her.

"That depends on your point of view."

She listened as Jagaa leapt through the window into the gentle wind before wiping her moistening eyes.

X X X X X

Naruto stood in the middle of the quiet street as the sun peeked over the mountains.

It was today.

After an exhausting month of training under the Ero-sennin, the day had finally come where he would face Jagaa in the exams… and Naruto was nervous as hell.

He had been so confident that day he declared that he would win, and that confidence had not faded once in the last month as he lost himself in his training. But now, as he stood there alone with only a few hours to go before the fateful confrontation, it was getting a lot harder to hold onto that confidence as his mind processed the fact that he had blissfully blocked from his mind.

He was fighting _Jagaa_.

How could Naruto have forgotten that he was fighting the same person who could spar with him, Sasuke, and Ino all at once and still _win_? The same person, who's scarred body told the story of a life filled with constant death and battle, and surviving to fight again.

The same person, whose hands had been soaked in blood since he was six years old.

The more Naruto thought about it, the more foolish he felt for his proud declaration of victory. The difference between himself and his brother had always been incredible, but it had never weighed on him as much as it did right now. The worst part was that he realized it wouldn't be a _spar_ this time. It was going to be a real fight. If Naruto couldn't even match Jagaa when the older boy _wasn't_ trying to hurt him, how could he possibly hope to win when he _was_? Even with all the training he had gotten from Ero-sennin, would it really be enough for him to even hold his own? Naruto's thoughts were spiraling further and further down on their depressing course when a familiar voice reached his ears.

"Naruto?"

Naruto snapped his head up to find himself looking into the familiar face of a man with a scar running across his nose and a pineapple like hair style. "Iruka-sensei? What are you doing here?"

"That's what I was about to ask you." The man replied. "Shouldn't you be getting ready for the Chuunin exam finals?"

Naruto's face visibly fell and he looked down to the ground. "Yeah."

The Chuunin instantly became concerned for the young blonde and put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Naruto, what's wrong?"

"I…I don't think I can beat him, Iruka-sensei." Naruto whispered just loud enough for the man to hear.

Iruka didn't need to ask who the boy was talking about. He was already well aware of the match ups due to the gossip of the village. "I know that it will be hard for you to fight your brother, Naruto, but all you have to do is try your best. That way, even if you do lose you'll still…"

"You don't understand, Sensei!" Naruto practically shouted, startling the Chuunin. "I _have_ to beat him!"

Taking a moment to recover himself from his surprise at the outburst, Iruka looked Naruto in the eye. "Why? Why are you so desperate to beat him? Is it really so important that you become a Chuunin?"

Naruto shook his head. "That's not it, Iruka-sensei."

"Then why?"

Naruto looked back to the ground making it impossible to see his face but made no response. After a few seconds Iruka started to worry. "Naruto…"

"Because I have to show him," Naruto's voice stopped Iruka cold before the boy looked at him with an intensity Iruka had never seen in the boy before. "I have to show him that we don't have to be the demons they want us to be." As he stared at his teacher, Naruto's eyes slowly lost their intensity and determination as he looked down to the ground. "I just don't know if I can." He finished softly. 

Iruka looked at the young boy, taking in the forlorn expression and a soft smile came to his face. Straightening up, Iruka indicated the area around them. "Naruto, do you happen to know where we are?"

Naruto looked up at his old sensei strangely. What kind of a question was that?

Noticing Naruto's look, Iruka smiled down at the boy. "It seems you don't. So how about I tell you a little story about something that happened here." Iruka looked up at the surrounding buildings with a nostalgic expression. "About four years ago, in this very spot, something incredible happened that changed a great many peoples perspective on something. Two boys were walking down the street when a large group of people surrounded them and started yelling at them and insulting them. They were after one of the boys in particular, one who they blamed for the loss of a great many people years ago, but were angry at the other one because he seemed to be protecting him. Finally, one of the people threw a rock that hit the boy they were after in the head causing him to cry out in pain." Iruka looked Naruto in the eye as he continued, seeing the understanding rising in his face.

"What happened next was something beyond what anyone could have imagined. The older boy grew enraged at the attack, and released a killing intent so powerful that it rivaled the feeling of the very creature they had hated so much. So powerful was it that many people's very hearts burst from the terror it incited. The older boy drew the blade on his back and charged into the crowd, intending to murder every one of them where they stood, but he never did. Mere seconds before his blade could end the life of one of the assailants, the very boy they had come to attack cried out for the other to stop and then pleaded for their lives…but the most surprising part of all, was that the older boy listened."

Iruka kneeled down in front of Naruto, a soft smile on his face as he looked into the boy's crystalline blue eyes. "You saved a great deal of lives that day, Naruto. The ANBU themselves have admitted that they have no idea how many he would have killed before they were able to stop him, but he listened to you. It was _your_ voice that stopped someone who carried enough rage and bloodlust in his heart that it rivaled even the greatest of demons to the people who felt it." Iruka smiled confidently at the blonde boy. "That's why I know that if anybody can help your brother overcome his own demons, it's you Naruto."

Naruto smiled as he looked gratefully back at his old sensei. "Thanks, Iruka-sensei." His smile then turned into a playful smirk. "Too bad I can't win the fight by yelling at him though, huh?"

Iruka laughed and rubbed the boy's head affectionately. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll think of something."

"Damn right I will! I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm gonna be the Hokage some day!" Naruto declared with a grin, proudly pumping his fist in the air. "I'll beat Nii-san no matter what it takes!" With his last declaration Naruto turned and started running in the direction of the stadium waving back over his shoulder. "See you later, Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka smiled fondly as he watched the blonde boy sprinting away. '_I wonder if he realizes that the finals don't start for another four hours._' Iruka thought chuckling lightly as he continued on his trek to the academy, mulling over the possibility of letting class out early so he could watch Naruto's match.

X X X X X

Naruto gazed in awe at the amount of people filling the giant stadium twenty minutes before the finals were to begin. He had just arrived (For the second time, after having gone to get some ramen when he realized by the lack of people that he was _way_ to early the first time.) about five minutes ago and was standing in the middle of the battle field along with Shino, Shikamaru, Neji (Someone Naruto wasn't thrilled to see), and the three Suna Genin. Looking into the stands, Naruto couldn't find a single open seat and noticed that many people had even taken to standing in the aisles. It was incredible to see.

Taking his eyes off the stands Naruto glanced around the arena floor. There was still no sign of the rest of his team and despite the fact it was still twenty minutes until the matches were supposed to start, he was starting to worry. However, his worry ended quickly when a familiar voice from behind him filled with a fury that made his blood run cold.

"NA-RU-TO!"

Naruto squeaked in surprise when he felt an iron grip on his shoulder before being whirled around so that he was staring directly into Ino's furious blue eyes.

"Where the hell were you for the last month!?" She yelled at him. "I skipped out on almost a weeks worth of training so I could go see you, and I couldn't find you even once! On top of that, I just found out that Nii-san has been training Forehead for the last month! HOW DO YOU PLAN ON MAKING UP FOR MAKING ME MISS A WEEK OF TRAINING!?" She was shaking him by the front of his shirt as she screamed the last part.

"B-but Ino-chan, I was training. You even said that we wouldn't see each other for a month so I didn't think you'd come looking for me before then." Naruto timidly tried to reason with the furious girl.

Unfortunately, it seemed reason was useless. "Just because I said we wouldn't see each other for a month didn't mean I wouldn't _try_ to see you! You should know that!" Ino shouted shaking him again.

"How-was-I-supposed-to-know-tha-aa-aat?" Naruto managed to say between Ino's violent shakes. His reward was to be shaken even harder. "YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN, DAMN IT!" She yelled. Naruto couldn't really ponder the unfairness of her statement due to the fact he felt like his head was going to fly off his shoulders at any moment.

"Shouldn't you be nicer to your boyfriend, Ino-pig, or is it to hard for livestock to control their temper?"

Ino stopped shaking Naruto at the sound of the familiar voice and turned her furious face in the direction it came from. "Kiss my ass forehe…" Ino trailed off and her mouth hung open when she saw the pink haired girl. Confused Naruto turned (along with everyone else present) to see why Ino had stopped and his jaw (along with all the _males_ present) dropped.

"S-Sakura, is that really you?" Naruto gaped.

Sakura blushed lightly, still self conscious about her new look. "Do I look okay, Naruto?" She asked a bit hesitantly. Naruto flashed his fox like grin and scratched the back of his head. "You look really great." Sakura smiled happily and Naruto blushed lightly.

Ino was still in shock at seeing her rival dressed, well, sexy, when she heard Naruto's compliment towards her rival. The poor boy didn't even have time to blink before Ino's fist connected with his face sending him flying backwards. "WHY ARE YOU COMPLIMENTING FOREHEAD GIRL YOU TRAITOR!?"

Sitting up from the ground in a dazed state, Naruto's eyes widened at the evil aura that was seeping out of Ino. "B-b-but I-Ino-chan, s-she asked me how she looked and it would have been wrong not to be honest right?" He turned ghostly pale when the killing intent around Ino rose to unimaginable proportions. "ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY SHE'S BETTER LOOKING THAN ME!?"

"N-N-N-N-No, I-I-I-I never said that! I was just saying that she looked good! That's all!" Naruto reasoned as he crawled backwards across the ground, but it was clear that Ino wasn't listening as she bore down on him with death in her eyes.

"Looks like you're getting yourself into trouble as usual, Dobe." Sasuke's sudden appearance caused a small pause in activity as the group looked over to see the raven haired boy walking up with a smirk on his face.

"Sasuke! Help! Ino is gonna kill me!" Naruto pleaded, stretching his hand out to his friend imploringly.

Sasuke's smirk grew wider and his eyes twinkled evilly. "For what? All you did was ogle Sakura, right?"

Naruto looked at Sasuke as if the boy had just signed his death sentence. Which he may well have, considering the way Ino's anger sky rocketed before she grabbed the front of the cringing boy's shirt and dragged him to his feet, their faces were almost touching. "_OGLE_! YOU WERE _OGLEING_, FOREHEAD!" Naruto eyes held nothing but terror while Ino's held pure death. "I can't believe I wasted precious days I could have spent training to go looking for you, and the first thing you do is _ogle_ my opponent! I swear I'm gonna…mmfff"

Ino's eyes (along with the eyes of the onlookers) widened when she felt a pair of soft lips connect with her own, stopping her cold. Pulling back slowly, Naruto looked into Ino's eyes and smiled. "Come on now, Ino. You know you're the _only_ girl I'll ever ogle." Naruto's smile was calm and confident, but his mind was far from it. '_Please work! Please work! Please work! Please work! For the love of Kami PLEASE WORK!_'

Ino stared at Naruto for what felt like a lifetime to the frightened boy. Finally, he saw a small blush on her cheeks as she let go of his shirt and stepped back, looking down demurely. "Do you really mean that?" She asked in an uncharacteristically timid voice.

"Believe it." Naruto said confidently earning a soft smile of happiness from the blonde girl. Naruto looked content on the outside, but inside, his mind was having a victory party at the fact he had finally made a move on Ino.

And the fact he was still alive.

"Wasn't expecting to see that when I got here."

At the sound of the voice, everyone present turned quickly to see Jagaa standing off to the side with his eyebrows raised curiously as he watched Ino and Naruto. Naruto felt his throat constrict, making it impossible to say anything to his brother. He wasn't afraid anymore, thanks to his talk with Iruka that morning, but Jagaa's arrival meant they were that much closer to their fight that would decide everything between them.

Behind Naruto, both Temari and Kankuro's eyes widened as soon as they saw Jagaa and they quickly turned and started whispering desperately to Gaara, who was looking at the older boy with pure murder in his eyes.

Jagaa walked over and joined the group, turning his head to face Sasuke. "I'm a little surprised to see you here already, considering who you were training with and all."

Sasuke shrugged. "I was supposed to do some last minute training with him today, but I skipped out so I could go do some other things." Sasuke's nonchalant expression became dark. "Besides, there was no way I was going to miss my fight because of him." His eyes shifted over to Neji, who was watching them all coldly. "No way in hell."

"I see, well it's good that you…" Jagaa shifted to the right to avoid the surprise flying kick Ino had just tried to hit him with. "What are you doing?" He asked idly, turning to face the outraged looking girl.

"WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA WITH YOU TRAINING FOREHEAD GIRL!?" Ino shouted, her face a perfect picture of the betrayed heroine. "DO YOU _WANT_ ME TO LOSE OR SOMETHING!?"

Jagaa's eyebrow rose over his sunglasses. "Why would you think that? Like I explained to Sakura, helping her improve would make you have to fight harder and display more of your talents. So by training her I'm improving your chances at being promoted. Besides, as long as you didn't slack off on your training, you'll probably still be well ahead of her. You _did_ train seriously for the last month, didn't you?"

Ino paused before looking at the ground and start shifting back and forth on her feet while mumbling. Only words such as "looking", "Naruto", and "just Sakura" coming through intelligibly.

Jagaa sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I'll take that as a 'No'." He said before dropping his voice to a mumble, "Well, this will make the betting more interesting at least."

"What was that, Nii-san?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"Huh, oh, nothing, nothing at all." Jagaa waved his hands in front of him, then pointed up to the stands. "More importantly, did you all notice _that_?"

Following Jagaa's finger, the assembled Genin looked up to the stands, at which point both Sasuke and Naruto face's fell as the rest of them gaped at what they were seeing.

The stands were filled with pictures of Naruto, Sasuke, Jagaa, and even Neji with big hearts drawn around the head. Signs and banner with love confessions could be seen everywhere, and it even looked like a great deal of women had gotten T-shirts made with the face of the boy they were supporting on the front. A few fights had broken out between the various factions as well, and from the looks of things the Ninja in charge of keeping order in the stands were in the midst of separating the factions into different sections of the stands.

"Now doesn't that just give you a warm and fuzzy feeling inside?" Jagaa laughed. Naruto and Sasuke looked horrified, and Neji just looked away with a grunt.

"That's just sick." Sakura huffed, turning away with disgust.

"I don't think you can be one to talk, Forehead. Since a month ago that could have been _you_ up there." Ino said snidely.

"Back at you Piggy, or did you forget about your _own_ Fangirl days?" Sakura shot back.

"You want to go right now Billboard Brow!?" Ino shouted, stomping over to Sakura.

"Bring it on Pig Girl!" Sakura challenged, putting her face in Ino's so that the two girls were glaring into each others eyes with only millimeters of distance between them and sparks crackling in the air.

"But as they glared into each others eyes, they felt a stirring of emotions deep inside them that they had never felt before. Rage slowly started fading away, being replaced by a deep yearning for the one before them. The Cherry Blossoms eyes went down of their own accord, taking in the full view of the Sun Flower's alluring form. The Sun Flower herself found her own eyes locked onto the Cherry Blossoms lush lips, desire to capture those lips with her own flooding through her. How long had they suppressed these emotions? How long had they hid desire behind a cloak of insults and rivalry? It had been so long that neither knew the answer anymore. However, none of that mattered as their longing gazes found each other once again. Slowly they drew closer, the distance between their lips closing with every…"

"STOP!" Ino and Sakura screamed at the top of their lungs, their faces beat red and their breathing heavy from embarrassment.

Jagaa stopped his narration and looked up from the pad of paper in his hand, his pencil halting its movement. "What?"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, "WHAT"?" Ino screamed. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING?"

Jagaa made a show of cleaning out his ears before holding up his pad of paper. "Well, since I'm always reading 'Icha Icha' I was thinking of trying my hand at writing as well." Jagaa brought the pad back down and frowned at it. "It's a lot harder than I thought though. That just plain sucked."

"I don't know. I was starting to enjoy it." Naruto muttered too low for anyone to hear.

"Don't you _ever_ do that again! Do you understand me?" Sakura growled threateningly.

"Hai, hai, you don't need to get so bent out of shape about it." Jagaa's tone indicated clearly that he wasn't concerned in the slightest about her warning, making the girl huff in annoyance. Smirking slightly, Jagaa turned his attention to the three Suna Nin standing off to the side. "So just how long do you plan on sending that killing intent my way? Think you could give it a rest, unless you're actually planning on doing something?" Surprised by his statement, the other Konoha Genin faced the Suna Genin as well just in time to see Temari and Kankuro back away from Gaara hurriedly as the sand began swirling violently around the red haired boy.

"You," Gaara's eyes narrowed dangerously, "will be the proof of my existence."

"Is that so?" Jagaa answered, his tone going dark. "But, what if I decided…that I would rather _end_ your existence?"

Gaara's eyes widened insanely and his sand rushed forward, causing shouts of alarm from the other Genin and the spectators. Jagaa stood unmoving as the sand bore down on him, a small smirk coming to his lips as the brown tendrils closed in.

Just before it reached him, the sand erupted outwards and a Jounin with a senbon needle in his mouth stood directly in front of Jagaa with a disapproving frown on his face. "Hey now, the matches haven't started yet. Don't be so hasty." Gaara was looking murderous as Baki stood behind him whispering frantically to the red haired boy. Finally, the sand slowly snaked back Gaara and into the large gourd on his back. With a final glare, he turned away from the rest of them, folding his arms and lowering his head slightly. Baki looked up and nodded to the new Jounin, who responded in kind before turning around to face Jagaa. "You okay?"

"Nobody asked for your help." Jagaa said in a cold tone that surprised the other Konoha Genin.

"Uh, okay." The man said uncertainly, "Well, since it looks like everyone is here, if you could all please line up and face the audience, we'll get this show under way."

X X X X X

High in the stands, a pair of chocolate brown eyes watched the eleven Genin as they lined up behind the Jounin. However, her main focus was on the one who had taken up the spot on the far left of the group, his black clothing making him look almost like a shadow from the distance.

She had seen the way he stood unmoving as the deadly sand bore down on him and she couldn't figure out what he had been thinking. Why would he just stand their like that? Even from where she was, she could feel the killing intent coming off the red haired boy, so there was no way Jagaa could have thought Gaara was just bluffing, could he? A vision of his cold, ruthless eyes during his fight with Lee flashed through her mind, sending chills up Tenten's spine.

Maybe it wasn't so strange after all.

"Just who are you?" She muttered to herself. She found it was a question that she was asking more and more frequently as the days passed.

"Did you say something, Cupcake?" Tenten was brought out of her thoughts by the voice of her father. Shaking her head slightly, she looked over at him with a false smile. "I'm fine, Daddy, just thinking about something."

Kyougu nodded, a knowing smirk rising on his face. "Oh, I don't suppose it has anything to do with our favorite scarred, sword wielding teenage customer with a curious need to wear black all the time, would it?"

"W-what? What would make you think that?" Tenten sputtered, turning her face to hide her caught expression.

"Oh I don't know, maybe because you asked me what I knew about him no less than _six_ times this last month, followed by the fact you haven't taken your eyes off him since he arrived." Kyougu smirked victoriously as the portion of his daughters face that he could see became beat red.

"What are you trying to say?" Tenten demanded, rounding on her father who held up his hands defensively despite his smirk.

"I'm just saying it's a little odd for you. Especially since you didn't seem to get along with him…well…at all. So the fact you seem to have taken such an interest in him…" Kyougu shrugged, leaving the end open to interpretation.

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" Tenten screamed, causing many of the people next to them to start inching away. "It's just that…" She turned looking down from the stands at the boy in question, "I have no idea who he really is."

Kyougu sighed and put his hand on his daughters shoulder. "Trust me, Cupcake, I don't think anybody really does."

Tenten nodded and the two of them sat in silence for some time. "Say, Daddy?" Tenten finally asked.

"Hmm, what is it Cupcake?" He asked with a smile.

"Do you think you could stop calling me that? It's kind of embarrassing."

This time many of the nearby people chose to get up and go stand in the back when Kyougu burst out into tears of despair.

X X X X X

The Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi, sat high above the arena floor next to the Yondaime Kazekage in the booth reserved for the Kages, looking down at the line of Genin. He was proud beyond measure that eight of the eleven below were all Genin from Konoha. Still, the Genin from Suna had proven that they were a force to be reckoned with, all three of them possessing skills well above the average Genin.

That line of thought drew the old mans attention to the darkest figure among the line up. Sarutobi's mind drifted back to the conversation he had had earlier with the scarred boy, and he let out a long sigh. '_Jagaa-kun, are you really going to…_'

"Why the long face, Hokage-dono?" The Kazekage asked from Sarutobi's right, "Seeing as you have so many Genin representing your village in the final exam, I would think you would be much more excited."

"Oh, make no mistake, Kazekage-dono, I am indeed proud of the youth of our village." The old man said with a smile, "I am also pleased to see that your own Genin have preformed so well. With so many talented young Ninja competing today, I am expecting great things from the matches to come."

"Indeed." The Kazekage nodded his agreement, "However, I would have to say that your village has not only the most numbers, but the most talent as well. Wouldn't you agree, Hokage-dono?"

"I don't know. The three you sent are quite strong. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them manages to win the tournament." Sarutobi replied.

"Ah, but I am talking about overall _talent_. After all, a Hyuuga prodigy and the last of the Uchiha, wielder of the infamous _Sharingan_," The Kazekage's eyes lit up strangely as he spoke of the Doujutsu, "both being in the same exam will give Konoha quite the edge wouldn't you say?"

"Well, those two are talented, I will admit that, but talent is not the only factor in a fight." Sarutobi responded sagely.

"It seems only the outcome of the matches will be able to decide this for us, Hokage-dono." The Kazekage laughed as his eyes roamed down to the Genin below. "There is something I would like to ask you though, Hokage-dono. That boy on the end wearing black, how long has he been in this village?"

Sarutobi's eyes narrowed slightly. "What makes you think he hasn't always lived here, Kazekage-dono?"

"Hmm, just a feeling I had. It seems I may have been wrong though." Despite his words, there was a slight glint in the Kazekage's eyes that Sarutobi found slightly worrying. If Jagaa had done something in the past that had some how offended the Kazekage, things could get complicated. He didn't get much time to dwell on the issue though, due to the fact it was time to start the final test of the Chuunin exams.

"Hokage-sama," The Jounin with the senbon needle called from below, "I, Shiranui Genma, judge for the third and final test, hereby present the final participants of this Chuunin exam." He indicated the Genin behind him with a wave of his hand.

Sarutobi nodded to Genma before standing up and moving to the edge of the dais. Looking down at the eleven Genin below him, Sarutobi smiled proudly. "Congratulations, all of you, for making it this far. You have gone through many trials and hardship to reach this point, and now you stand at the finish line. I expect great things from all of you in the coming matches. Now, let the final test of the Chuunin exam begin." The old mans speech was met with a roar from the crowd that shook the stadium walls.

The day had finally arrived.

**A/N: IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMNT** (If you actually care)

Well first off, I am _NOT_ scrapping the story, so if you thought that was it, then you were wrong. However, I have been having some difficulty lately getting the ideas flowing for this story. It's as if I know where I want to go, but have lost the map on how to get there (I like that analogy). To be honest, I have no idea when there will be another update at this rate.

SO, in order to try to get the ideas coming again, I'm going to go back through all the previous chapters and revamp them using some of the experience I've gained. I've already got plans to add in some dialog, pick up some of the action on the fight scenes, and just try to make the reading experience more enjoyable over all. I'm hoping that by doing so, my muse will start putting some effort into this story again as well, instead of being so focused on my second one. I still plan to try to finish new chaps even as I rework the old ones, but like I said, I have no idea when I'll have a new chapter written. Sorry about this to anyone who was hoping for faster updates, but this is the best I can do right now.

Well, I guess that's about it. Hopefully I can ideas again faster than I though, but right now, I don't know what the hells going on.


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